PAH Concentrations Inside a Wood Processing Plant and the Indoor Effects of Outdoor Industrial Emissions

Abstract

Our study was aimed at assessing the effects of indoor and outdoor emission sources on indoor and outdoor concentrations of ambient particulate matter (PM) and PM-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in a small sawmill in Silesia, Poland. The concentrations of total suspended particles (TSP), of their respirable fraction (PM 4 ), and of 16 PM 4 - and TSP-bound PAHs were measured. The indoor PM emission sources (i.e. the saw and other tools for wood processing) did not cause a significant hazard to the sawmill workers. Nonetheless, the concentrations of the 16 PAH mixtures within the sawmill were high, especially indoors. Such high indoor PM-bound PAH concentrations were due to sawdust-adsorbing PAHs coming from industrial PAH sources beyond the sawmill (a cokery).