PM_(2.5), PM_(10) and health risk assessment of heavy metals in a typical printed circuit noards manufacturing workshop

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 PM2.5in the off-site were 106.3, 90.0 and 50.2 μg/m3, respectively, while the concentrations of TSP, PM10 and PM2.5in the workshops ranged from 36.1 to 365.3, from 27.1 to 289.8 and from 22.1 to212.3 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 to0.078 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.

Identification and ecotoxicity assessment of intermediates generated during the degradation of clofibric acid by advanced oxidation processes

The aim of this study was to identify the intermediates in clofibric acid degradation under various advanced oxidation processes, namely ultraviolet （UV）, UV/H2O2, vacuum ultraviolet （VUV）, VUV/H2O2, and solar/TiO2 processes, as well as to assess the toxicity of these intermediates. Eleven intermediates have been detected by gas chromatography-mass spectrometer, most of which were reported for the first time to our best knowledge. Combining the evolution of the dissolved organic carbon, CF and specific ultraviolet absorption at 254 nm, it could be deduced that cleavage of aromatic ring followed by dechlorination was the mechanism in solar/ TiO2 process, while dechlorination happened first and accumulation of aromatic intermediates occurred in the other processes. Different transformation pathways were proposed for UV-, VUV-assisted and solar/TiO2 processes, respectively. The acute toxicity was evaluated by means of Photobacterium phosphoreurn T3 spp. bioassay. It was believed that aromatic intermediates increased the toxicity and the ring-opening pathway in solar/TiO2 process could relieve the toxicity.