Study on the air pollution in typical transportation microenvironment: Characteristics and health risks

Abstract

The concentration of formaldehyde in micro-traffic atmospheric environment (including buses, cars, bus stations, and traffic artery) of Lin’an City was carefully investigated. The results showed that the formaldehyde average concentration was 0.0162 mg/m3 in the buses, 0.0225 mg/m3 in the cars, 0.0047 mg/m3 in the West Bus Stations, and 0.0133 mg/m3 in the East Bus Stations. The concentration of formaldehyde along the traffic artery decreased with the height increased. From 0 to 140 cm, the formaldehyde concentration decreased from 0.031 to 0.018 mg/m3. The formaldehyde concentration decreased when far away from the traffic artery. When the distance reached 200 m, the formaldehyde concentration decreased from 0.018 to 0.005 mg/m3. Based on the health risk assessment model, using 1 hr as the average retention time, the average health risk in buses, cars, and West/East Bus Stations was 2.106 × 10−4, 2.925 × 10−4, and 1.157 × 10−4, respectively. Implications: The data of carbonyl concentrations in transportation microenvironment in China are limited. In this paper, the authors investigated carbonyl levels in selected transportation microenvironment, discussed the possible sources of indoor carbonyls, and assessed health risks for carbonyls inside transportation microenvironment.