title: Laboratory study of PCB transport from primary sources to settled dust.
abstract: Dust is an important sink for indoor air pollutants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that were used in building materials and products. In this study, two types of dust, house dust and Arizona Test Dust, were tested in a 30-m(3) stainless steel chamber with two types of panels. The PCB-containing panels were aluminum sheets coated with a PCB-spiked primer or caulk. The PCB-free panels were coated with the same materials but without PCBs. The dust evenly spread on each panel was collected at different times to determine its PCB content. The data from the PCB panels were used to evaluate the PCB migration from the source to the dust through direct contact, and the data from the PCB-free panels were used to evaluate the sorption of PCBs through the dust/air partition. Settled dust can adsorb PCBs from air. The sorption concentration was dependent on the congener concentration in the air and favored less volatile congeners. When the house dust was in direct contact with the PCB-containing panel, PCBs migrated into the dust at a much faster rate than the PCB transfer rate due to the dust/air partition. The dust/source partition was not significantly affected by the congener's volatility. For a given congener, the ratio between its concentration in the dust and in the source was used to estimate the dust/source partition coefficient. The estimated values ranged from 0.04 to 0.16. These values are indicative of the sink strength of the tested house dust being in the middle or lower-middle range.
authors: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Air Pollution Prevention and Control Division Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, United States. Electronic address: liu.xiaoyu@epa.gov.
authors: Xiaoyu
authors: X
authors: Liu
authors: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Air Pollution Prevention and Control Division Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, United States.
authors: Zhishi
authors: Z
authors: Guo
authors: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Air Pollution Prevention and Control Division Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, United States.
authors: Kenneth A
authors: KA
authors: Krebs
authors: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Air Pollution Prevention and Control Division Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, United States.
authors: Dale J
authors: DJ
authors: Greenwell
authors: ARCADIS, US Inc., 4915 Prospectus Dr., Suite F, Durham, NC 27709, United States.
authors: Nancy F
authors: NF
authors: Roache
authors: ARCADIS, US Inc., 4915 Prospectus Dr., Suite F, Durham, NC 27709, United States.
authors: Rayford A
authors: RA
authors: Stinson
authors: ARCADIS, US Inc., 4915 Prospectus Dr., Suite F, Durham, NC 27709, United States.
authors: Joshua A
authors: JA
authors: Nardin
authors: ARCADIS, US Inc., 4915 Prospectus Dr., Suite F, Durham, NC 27709, United States.
authors: Robert H
authors: RH
authors: Pope
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000535:Aluminum; D001130:Arizona; D003252:Construction Materials; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis*; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis*; D012106:Research
chemical_list: D004391:Dust; D000535:Aluminum; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls
keywords: Chamber testing; Dust/air partition; Dust/source partition; Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); Settled dust