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van Drooge BL, Prats RM, Jaén C, Grimalt JO. Determination of subpicogram levels of airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons for personal exposure monitoring assessment. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT 2023; 195:368. [PMID: 36749431 PMCID: PMC9905180 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-023-10953-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2022] [Accepted: 01/20/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
A method based on the use of GC coupled to Q-exactive Orbitrap mass spectrometry (GC-Orbitrap-MS) has been developed for the analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) at sub-picogram levels. Outdoor ambient air particulate matter (PM2.5) and standard reference materials (SRM2260a) were analyzed in full scan mode showing low instrumental uncertainties (1-22%) and high linearity over a wide concentration range (0.5 pg and 500 pg/μL). Good reproducibility was obtained compared to the use of conventional single quadrupole GC-MS of PM samples. The quantification limit of the GC-Orbitrap-MS method for full scan analysis of PAHs in outdoor ambient air PM samples was 0.5 pg/μL. This low limit allowed the analysis of PAHs in samples collected with low volumes (< 0.5 m3), such as punch samples from whole filters or filter strips from personal exposure monitoring equipment. PAHs were successfully analyzed in filter strips from real-time Aethalometer AE51 equivalent black carbon (eBC) analyzers used in urban and rural sites, and in personal exposure monitors of firefighters during prescribed burns. The correlations between PAHs and eBC in these analyses were very strong (r2 ≥ 0.93). However, the equations obtained reflected the dominance of different emission sources, such as traffic in urban areas, wood burning for domestic heating, or wildfires. The method reported here affords the analyses of PAHs in high precision studies of atmospheric PM samples, e.g., high frequency sampling of low volumes, affording personal exposure monitoring assessments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barend L. van Drooge
- Dept. Environmental Chemistry, Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research, Spanish National Research Council (IDÆA-CSIC), c/Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Raimon M. Prats
- Dept. Environmental Chemistry, Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research, Spanish National Research Council (IDÆA-CSIC), c/Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Clara Jaén
- Dept. Environmental Chemistry, Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research, Spanish National Research Council (IDÆA-CSIC), c/Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Joan O. Grimalt
- Dept. Environmental Chemistry, Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research, Spanish National Research Council (IDÆA-CSIC), c/Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
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Zhang T, Chillrud SN, Yang Q, Pitiranggon M, Ross J, Perera F, Ji J, Spira A, Breysse PN, Rodes CE, Miller R, Yan B. Characterizing peak exposure of secondhand smoke using a real-time PM 2.5 monitor. INDOOR AIR 2020; 30:98-107. [PMID: 31610044 PMCID: PMC7137634 DOI: 10.1111/ina.12611] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2019] [Revised: 08/15/2019] [Accepted: 10/10/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Although short-duration elevated exposures (peak exposures) to pollutants may trigger adverse acute effects, epidemiological studies to understand their influence on different health effects are hampered by lack of methods for objectively identifying peaks. Secondhand smoke from cigarettes (SHS) in the residential environment can lead to peak exposures. The aim of this study was to explore whether peaks in continuous PM2.5 data can indicate SHS exposure. A total of 41 children (21 with and 20 without SHS exposure based on self-report) from 28 families in New York City (NY, USA) were recruited. Both personal and residential continuous PM2.5 monitoring were performed for five consecutive days using MicroPEM sensors (RTI International, USA). A threshold detection method based on cumulative distribution function was developed to identify peaks. When children were home, the mean accumulated peak area (APA) for peak exposures was 297 ± 325 hour*µg/m3 for children from smoking families and six times that of the APA from non-smoking families (~50 ± 54 hour*µg/m3 ). Average PM2.5 mass concentrations for SHS exposed and unexposed children were 24 ± 15 µg/m3 and 15 ± 9 µg/m3 , respectively. The average SHS exposure duration represents ~5% of total exposure time, but ~13% of children's total PM2.5 exposure dose, equivalent to an additional 2.6 µg/m3 per day. This study demonstrated the feasibility of peak analysis for quantifying SHS exposure. The developed method can be adopted more widely to support epidemiology studies on impacts of short-term exposures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ting Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Surficial Geochemistry, Ministry of Education, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
- Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, NY, USA
| | - Steven N. Chillrud
- Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, NY, USA
| | - Qiang Yang
- Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, NY, USA
| | - Masha Pitiranggon
- Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, NY, USA
| | - James Ross
- Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, NY, USA
| | - Frederica Perera
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Junfeng Ji
- Key Laboratory of Surficial Geochemistry, Ministry of Education, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
| | - Avrum Spira
- Boston University-Boston Medical Center Cancer Center, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Patrick N. Breysse
- Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | | | - Rachel Miller
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Beizhan Yan
- Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, NY, USA
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