Toxic metals in outdoor/indoor airborne PM2.5 in port city of Northern, China: Characteristics, sources, and personal exposure risk assessment

• Published in: Environmental pollution (1987) 2021-06, Vol.279, p.116937, Article 116937
• Main Authors: Fang, Bo, Zeng, Hao, Zhang, Lei, Wang, Hongwei, Liu, Jiajia, Hao, Kelu, Zheng, Guoying, Wang, Manman, Wang, Qian, Yang, Wenqi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Health risk assessment; Indoor and outdoor pollutants; PM2.5-bound metals; Source apportionment
• ISSN: 0269-7491; 1873-6424
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116937

Outdoor and indoor PM2.5 samples were simultaneously collected over four seasons (2017–2018) in Caofeidian, China, and analyzed for 15 elements to investigate the characteristics, sources, and health risks of PM2.5-bound metals. Source-specific PM2.5-bound metals were analyzed using positive matrix factorization, combined with the conditional probability function and potential source contribution function model. The health risks were evaluated using the health risk assessment model, which included the exposure parameters of indoor and outdoor activities of Chinese residents. The annual median of PM2.5 concentrations (89.68 μg/m3) and total metals (2.67 μg/m3) from the outdoor samples significantly surpassed that of the indoor samples (51.56 μg/m3) and total metals (1.51 μg/m3) (P