A comprehensive study on gas and particle emissions from laser printers:Chemical composition and health risk assessment

Özet

In this study, a general evaluation of indoor air quality (IAQ) in an office room with intense printing activity wasinvestigated. Instantaneous peaks of PM2.5and O3were observed when the printer was working, and the con-centrations were decreased significantly on idle times. Size distribution of PM showed a remarkable contributionof quasi-ultrafine mode particles to the total aerosol mass. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and ele-mental carbon (EC) occupied an insignificant percent of the aerosol mass, while organic carbon (OC) togetherwith elements were noted to be significant. Carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks due to the PMexposure were evaluated by using size-dependent deposition fractions in the respiratory tract. Hazard index (HI)was calculated as 5.5×10−5for the PAHs and 2.2×10−1for heavy metal exposure as the sum of inhalation,ingestion and dermal exposures. Cancer risk (CR) values were obtained to be 6.3×10−7and 6.4×10−6for theinhalation of PAHs and heavy metals, respectively. As a result of the higher concentration of the VOCs, total CRhigher than 1.3×10−5was estimated, while total hazard quotient (HQ) value was noticed to be 9.9×10−2inthe office.