PM2.5, PM10 and health risk assessment of heavy metals in a typical printed circuit noards manufacturing workshop
Peng Zhou , Jie Guo , Xiaoyu Zhou , Wei Zhang , Lili Liu , Yangcheng Liu , Kuangfei Lin
DOI:10.1016/j.jes.2014.08.003
Received November 13, 2013,Revised February 28, 2014, Accepted , Available online October 22, 2014
Volume 26,2014,Pages 2018-2026
A typical Printed Circuit Board (PCB) manufacturer was chosen as the object of this study. During PCB processing, fine particulate matter and heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Pb, Cr, Cd and Ni) will be released into the air and dust, which then impact workers' health and the environment. The concentrations of total suspended particle (TSP), PM10 and PM2.5 in the off-site were 106.3, 90.0 and 50.2 μg/m3, respectively, while the concentrations of TSP, PM10 and PM2.5 in the workshops ranged from 36.1 to 365.3, from 27.1 to 289.8 and from 22.1 to 212.3 μg/m3, respectively. Almost all six of the heavy metals were detected in all of the particle samples except Cd. For each workshop, it was obvious that Zn was the most enriched metal in TSP, followed by Cu > Pb (Cr) > Ni > Cd, and the same trend was found for PM10 and PM2.5. In the dust samples, Cu (which ranged from 4.02 to 56.31 mg/g) was the most enriched metal, followed by Zn, Cr, Pb, Ni and Cd, and the corresponding concentrations ranged from 0.77 to 4.47, 0.37 to 1.59, 0.26 to 0.84, 0.13 to 0.44 and nd to 0.078 mg/g, respectively. The health risk assessment showed that noncancerous effects are unlikely for Zn, Pb, Cr, Cu, Cd and Ni. The carcinogenic risks for Cd and Ni were all lower than 10-6, except for Cr. This result indicates that carcinogenic risks for workers are relatively possible in the workshops. These findings suggest that this technology is advanced from the perspective of environmental protection in the waste PCB's recycling industry.
