Chlorinated paraffins in multimedia during residential interior finishing: Occurrences, behavior, and health risk

Abstract

Though with bioaccumulation and toxicity, chlorinated paraffins (CPs) are still high produced and widely utilized in various daily necessities for extender plasticization and flame retardation. CPs can be released during the reprocessing processes of finishing materials and distributed in multi-environmental media. Herein, concentrations and compositions of CPs in four representative media including interior finishing materials, PM10, total suspended particulate (TSP), and dust samples collected from eight interior finishing stages were studied. Unexpectedly, CP concentrations in ceramic tiles was found to be high with a mean value of 7.02 × 103 μg g−1, which could be attributed to the presence of CPs in the protective wax coated on ceramic tiles surfaces. Furthermore, the pollution characteristics of short-chain and medium-chain CPs (SCCPs and MCCPs) in those samples were inconsistent. According to the investigation regarding Kdust−TSP and KPM10-TSP, the occurrence and distribution of CPs in indoor atmospheric particles (PM10 and TSP) and dust were highly affected by reprocessing processes (cutting, hot melting, etc.) compared to that in the finishing materials. Moreover, dermal contact was the primary pathway of CP exposure for the occupational population (interior construction workers) for most interior finishing stages, and the interior finishing process is the prime CP exposure period for the occupational groups. As suggested by our assessment, though hardly posing an immediate health risk, CPs exposure still presents unneglected adverse health effects, which calls for adequate personal protections during interior finishing, especially in developing countries.

Keywords

• Chlorinated paraffins
• Multimedia
• Residential interior finishing
• Health risk
• Reprocessing methods
• Floor wax