Ethylene Oxide in Southeastern Louisiana’s Petrochemical Corridor: High Spatial Resolution Mobile Monitoring during HAP-MAP

• Published in: Environmental science & technology 2024-06, Vol.58 (25), p.11084-11095
• Main Authors: Robinson, Ellis S., Tehrani, Mina W., Yassine, Amira, Agarwal, Shivang, Nault, Benjamin A., Gigot, Carolyn, Chiger, Andrea A., Lupolt, Sara N., Daube, Conner, Avery, Anita M., Claflin, Megan S., Stark, Harald, Lunny, Elizabeth M., Roscioli, Joseph R., Herndon, Scott C., Skog, Kai, Bent, Jonathan, Koehler, Kirsten, Rule, Ana M., Burke, Thomas, Yacovitch, Tara I., Nachman, Keeve, DeCarlo, Peter F.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air monitoring; Air sampling; Cancer; Carcinogens; Emission measurements; Ethylene oxide; Exposure; Health risks; Industrial areas; Median (statistics); Mixing ratio; Occurrence, Fate, and Transport of Contaminants in Indoor Air and Atmosphere; Organic compounds; Petrochemicals; Plumes; Spatial discrimination; Spatial resolution; VOCs; Volatile organic compounds
• ISSN: 0013-936X; 1520-5851; 1520-5851
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c10579

Ethylene oxide (“EtO”) is an industrially made volatile organic compound and a known human carcinogen. There are few reliable reports of ambient EtO concentrations around production and end-use facilities, however, despite major exposure concerns. We present in situ, fast (1 Hz), sensitive EtO measurements made during February 2023 across the southeastern Louisiana industrial corridor. We aggregated mobile data at 500 m spatial resolution and reported average mixing ratios for 75 km of the corridor. Mean and median aggregated values were 31.4 and 23.3 ppt, respectively, and a majority (75%) of 500 m grid cells were above 10.9 ppt, the lifetime exposure concentration corresponding to 100-in-one million excess cancer risk (1 × 10–4). A small subset (3.3%) were above 109 ppt (1000-in-one million cancer risk, 1 × 10–3); these tended to be near EtO-emitting facilities, though we observed plumes over 10 km from the nearest facilities. Many plumes were highly correlated with other measured gases, indicating potential emission sources, and a subset was measured simultaneously with a second commercial analyzer, showing good agreement. We estimated EtO for 13 census tracts, all of which were higher than EPA estimates (median difference of 21.3 ppt). Our findings provide important information about EtO concentrations and potential exposure risks in a key industrial region and advance the application of EtO analytical methods for ambient sampling and mobile monitoring for air toxics.