Occurrence and exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their derivatives in a rural Chinese home through biomass fuelled cooking

Abstract

The concentration and composition of PAHs emitted from biomass cooking fuel were characterized in a rural non-smoking household in northern China. Twenty-two parent PAHs (pPAHs), 12 nitro-PAHs (nPAHs), and 4 oxy-PAHs (oPAHs) were measured in the kitchen, bedroom, and outdoors during both summer and winter. The most severe contamination occurred in the kitchen in the winter, where the daily mean concentrations of pPAHs, nPAHs, and oPAHs were 7500±4100, 38±29, and 8400±9200 ng/m3, respectively. Our results suggest that the nPAHs were largely from secondary formation in ambient air while oPAHs were either from primary emission of biomass burning or secondary formation from pPAHs in the kitchen. The daily mean benzo(a)pyrene equivalent exposure concentration was as high as 200±160 ng/m3 in the winter for the housewife who did the cooking compared to 59±37 ng/m3 for the control group that did not cook.

Distribution of atmospheric particulate matter (PM) in rural field, rural village and urban areas of northern China

“…Dezhou, located at a transportation junction with busy motor vehicle and railway traffic, is also an industrial city and surrounded by several large coal fired power stations (Zhang, 2009). In comparison, local sources of PM 10 at rural village sites are dominated by coal and biomass fuel combustion in households (Ding et al, 2012;Shen et al, 2010b). For all rural field sites, there was no appreciable local pollution source and the measured PM 10 were either from nearby cities, towns, and villages or from remote areas through long-range transport.…”

“…It is well established that in northern China the air quality is worse inside of rural households than outside air and that the majority of residents spend more time indoors (Ding et al, 2012). Hence, the overall health risk facing rural residents should be much higher than for those living in cities.…”

“…However, it should be emphasized that air quality in rural China, where half population lives, is also deserving of attention even though such areas are largely not covered by routine environmental monitoring. In China, coal and biomass fuels are extensively used in rural household for cooking and heating, resulting in severe air pollution both in-and outdoors (Ding et al, 2012;Liu et al, 2007). Concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) including carcinogenic benzo [a] pyrene in the ambient environments are just about as high in northern Chinese villages as they are in major cities during the winter .…”

Influence of Biomass Burning on the Levels of Atmospheric Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Their Nitro Derivatives in Chiang Mai, Thailand

“…9-NA was observed in the combustion of all types of wood . Furthermore, Ding et al (2012) reported one of the highest concentrations of 9-NA in NPAHs in particulate phase collected in rural Chinese homes that use biomass (firewood and corn residue) as fuel. Therefore, 9-NA is likely correlated with biomass burning, probably because of the low temperatures in biomass combustion and the high reactivity of PAH nitration.…”

Impact of prenatal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from maternal diet on birth outcomes: a birth cohort study in Korea

“…the environment (11) . Cooking foods at high temperature (grilling, roasting or frying) generates a large amount of PAH (5,12,13) .…”