United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
National Risk Management
Research Laboratory
Cincinnati, OH 45268
Research and Development
EPA/600/SR-96/060 May 1996
Project Summary
v>EPA
Analysis of Soil and House
Dust for Polycyclic Aromatic
Hydrocarbons
Jane Chuang
It has been conjectured that jet tur-
bine exhaust near airplane flight paths
may result in significant human expo-
sure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocar-
bons (PAH). EPA arranged access to a
household located approximately eight
miles from the end of a runway at the
Greater Cincinnati and Northern Ken-
tucky Airport, and collected soil, wipe,
and dust samples in and around the
household. House dust samples were
collected inside the household and
entryway dust and soil samples were
collected outside. The objective of this
study was to determine if abnormally
high PAH concentrations existed in and
around the selected household. The
general concentration trend for the 19
PAH measured is house dust >
entryway dust > soil. The concentra-
tions of each target PAH in the wipe
samples ranged from 0.007 to 0.54 |ag/
m2. The sums of 19 PAH ranged from
0.13 to 0.88 ppm in soil samples, from
1.4 to 3.1 |jg/m2 in wipe samples, and
from 0.97 to 4.0 ppm in dust samples.
Seven of the target PAH are ranked as
probable human carcinogens (B2) in
the U.S. EPA's Integrated Risk Infor-
mation System. The concentrations of
B2 PAH account for roughly half of the
concentrations of the sums of 19 PAH
in most soil and dust samples but not
in wipe samples.
This Project Summary was developed
by the National Risk Management Re-
search Laboratory's Sustainable Tech-
nology Division, Cincinnati, OH, to an-
nounce key findings of the research
project that is fully documented in a
separate report of the same title (see
Project Report ordering information at
back).
Introduction
Little is known about possible exposure
of individuals living near airports to poly-
cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Very
little data are available through traditional
literature searches on the aerosol/smoke
components of jet turbine exhaust. At ma-
jor airports aircraft are routed through cor-
ridors or discrete pathways significantly
localizeing the distribution of any fallout
subject to meteorologic effects. The plume
could move directly to the ground as a
cohesive unit due to electrostatic charge
or saturation effects and pass through
open windows or be deposited on soil
with subsequent track-in to residences,
posing a risk of PAH exposure beyond
that which might arise from contact with
soil outdoors.
One household is located approximately
eight miles from the end of runway 27 Left
at the Greater Cincinnati and Northern
Kentucky International Airport was selected
for preliminary evaluation. The objective
of this study was to determine if abnor-
mally high PAH concentrations existed in
and around the selected household. The
homeowner volunteered to allow sampling
in and around his home for measuring
PAH in soil, dust, and wipe samples. Ac-
cording to the homeowner, since the ex-
tended runway opened in the summer of
1995, 72 to 80 turbine-equipped aircraft
fly over the residence each day. Approxi-
mately 25 to 40 fly over between sunset
and sunrise depending on the season.
The airport began using this path as a
corridor in February 1991. There was a
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slight hiatus from February through July
of 1995 as the runway was extended 2200
feet toward the west.
The EPA Risk Reduction Engineering
Laboratory (RREL)* arranged access to
the subject property and residence. In this
study, the RREL developed a sampling
design to collect soil, dust and wipe
samples at different locations. Battelle pre-
pared and furnished sampling media and
procedures for sample collection. RREL
conducted the sampling and provided the
collected samples to Battelle for analysis
for PAH. The final report summarizes the
analytical procedures and the PAH re-
sults.
Procedure
The sampling design was established
by RREL. Prior to the sampling, Battelle
provided RREL the sampling media and
reviewed the sampling procedures. A train-
ing session was held at Battelle to dem-
onstrate the use of the High Volume Small
Surface Sampler (HVS3) for designated
areas in the carpet.
The sampling was conducted on Sep-
tember 27, 1995 by RREL staff members.
A total of 10 soil samples, 5 wipe samples
and 4 dust samples was collected. At each
sampling site, soil was scraped from the
top 2 cm surface with an area approxi-
mately 20 cm by 20 cm. When there were
leaves or vegetation litter, these materi-
als, generally about 0.5 cm deep, were
carefully scraped away before taking the
soil sample. Indoor and outdoor wipe
samples were taken by quartz fiber filters
thoroughly wet with hexane or by dry
quartz fiber filters. The unused hexane
and filters were sent back to Battelle for
use in preparation of a wipe blank.
Samples were taken from the top of the
west barn roof, a wood floor area (30.5
cm by 61 cm) in the dining room and
along the door jam and the door edge in
an upstairs bedroom.
The HVS3 was used to collected
samples of carpet-embedded house dust
from designated areas. The HVS3 con-
sists of a high-powered vacuum cleaner
equipped with a sampling nozzle that can
be adjusted to a specific static pressure
within the nozzle, a cyclone which accord-
ing to theoretical calculations will sepa-
rate particles 5 urn mean diameter and
larger, and a bottle to catch the sample.
Neither the degree to which the HVS3
sampler removes the total dust load in the
carpet nor the distribution of PAHs as a
* The Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory (RREL)
is now the National Risk Management Research
Laboratory (NRMRL).
function of particle size were quantified in
this study. It is known that deep dust can
be exceedingly difficult to remove by vacu-
uming.
Prior to the sampling, the HVS3 was
disassembled and cleaned. The HVS3 was
operated according to the manufacture's
instruction and an ASTM standard guide.
A 76 cm by 100 cm rectangle was marked
out with masking tape at the designated
area and the width was subdivided into 10
7.6-cm wide segments. The HVS3 was
run slowly forward and backward across
the 100 cm length of the rectangle a total
of eight times along each 7.6-cm width.
After the eighth pass, the unit was gradu-
ally moved over to the next segment, and
the procedure was repeated until all 10
segments had been sampled, for a total
area of 0.76 m2.
A sample was collected from an out-
door entryway door mat. The sample was
collected by turning over the entryway mat
and placing it on a clean sheet of alumi-
num foil. The back of the mat was then
beaten for several minutes before it was
removed from the foil. The loose particles
on the foil were poured into a clean bottle.
The collected soil/wipe/dust samples were
stored at <4 °C in the dark and trans-
ported to Battelle for analysis.
Analytical Procedures
The dust samples were separated into
fine (< 150 |im) and course fractions and
only the fine fractions were subject to ex-
traction. An aliquot of each dust and soil
sample was spiked with known amounts
of perdeuterated PAH, and each sample
was extracted twice with 10 mL of hexane
in a sonication bath for 30 min. The hex-
ane extracts were combined, filtered, and
concentrated for subsequent gas chroma-
tography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS)
analysis. A method blank for dust and soil
samples was prepared by the same
method described above.
Known amounts of perdeuterate PAH
were spiked into each wipe sample and
extracted with dichloromethane (DCM) by
Soxhlet technique. The DCM extracts were
concentrated to 1 mL and were fraction-
ated using prepacked 1 g silica gel col-
umns. Two elution solvents, hexane and
hexane/DCM (1:1) were applied to the
columns. The target hexane/DCM frac-
tions were concentrated to 1 mL for sub-
sequent GC/MS analysis. A hexane-wet
filter was used as the method blank for
wipe samples and was prepared by the
same method.
The sample extracts and hexane/DCM
fractions were analyzed by GC/MS using
70-eV electron ionization (El). A Finnigan
TSQ-45 GC/MS/MS instrument, operated
in the GC/MS mode, was used. Data ac-
quisition and processing were performed
with an I NCOS 2300 data system. Follow-
ing injection, the GC column was held at
70 °C for 2 min and temperature-pro-
grammed to 290 °C at 8 °C/min. The MS
was operated in the selected ion monitor-
ing mode. Masses monitored were the
molecular ions (M) and their associated
characteristic fragment ions including M+1
ions and doubly charged ions.
Results and Discussion
The sums of the concentrations of prob-
able human carcinogens (B2) and total
target PAH in soil samples ranged from
0.036 to 0.42 and from 0.13 to 0.88 ppm,
respectively. The concentrations of the
well-known carcinogen, benzo[a]pyrene
(BaP) in the soil samples ranged from
0.001 to 0.53 ppm. With few exceptions,
the sums of the concentrations of B2 PAH
are approximately half of the total target
PAH concentrations in these soil samples.
The sums of the concentration of B2
and total target PAH in wipe samples
ranged from 0.25 to 1.1 and from 1.4 to
3.1 |o,g/m2, respectively. The concentra-
tions of BaP in the wipe samples ranged
from 0.019 to 0.095 |.ig/m2. In general,
higher PAH concentrations were found in
indoor wipe samples as opposed to the
outdoor composite wipe samples. The
sums of the concentrations of B2 PAH
account for approximately 20 to 35 per-
cent of the total target PAH concentra-
tions.
The sums of the concentrations of B2
and total target PAH in the dust samples
ranged from 0.25 to 1.8 and from 0.97 to
4.0 ppm, respectively. The concentrations
of BaP in dust samples ranged from 0.035
to 0.19 ppm. In general, levels of PAH
found in house dust samples were higher
than those in entryway dust. The sums of
the concentrations of B2 PAH are ap-
proximately half of the total target PAH
concentrations in house dust samples but
not in the entryway dust sample.
Conclusions and
Recommendations
Additional samples should be collected
to investigate the effect of aircraft exhaust
emissions on exposure to PAH through
deposition and through accumulation of
PAH in soil and subsequent track-in to
residences. The sample locations should
consider the following factors: proximity to
airports, flight patterns, prevailing wind,
other relevant meteorological parameters
such as temperature, indoor PAH sources,
the influence of particle size on the PAH
distribution, assessment of the extent to
which the HVS3 sampling protocol recov-
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ers particle laden PAHs representative of
the actual dust laden PAH distribution in
the carpet, and the distribution and con-
centration of PAHs remaining in the car-
pet after sampling with the HVS3 proto-
col. The collected samples will be ana-
lyzed for target PAH. If justified by the
results from this sampling campaign, a
thorough pilot field study may be desir-
able to determine the temporal and spa-
cial effects on PAH concentrations in soil
and dust and the effect of jet engine ex-
haust on PAH exposure.
For a pilot study, one of the criteria for
selection of households is to have similar
indoor sources for these households so
that the effect of proximity to airports can
be better estimated. Any pilot field study
should probably be carried out during four
sampling campaigns: spring, summer, fall
and winter. This approach will enable us
to better understand the seasonal varia-
tion of climatic conditions.
The full report was submitted in fulfill-
ment of Contract No. 68-D4-0023, Work
Assignment No. 1, under the sponsorship
of the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency.
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Jane C. Chuang, is with Battelle, Columbus, OH 43201-2693
James Heidman is the EPA Work Assignment Manager (see below).
The complete report, entitled "Analysis of Soil and House Dust for Polycyclic
Aromatic Hydrocarbons," (Order No. PB96-177712/AS; Cost: $19.50, subject to
change) will be available only from:
National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA 22161
Telephone: 703-487-4650
The EPA Work Assignment Manager can be contacted at:
Sustainable Technology Division
National Risk Management Research Laboratory
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
Cincinnati, OH 45268
United States
Environmental Protection Agency
National Risk Management Research Laboratory (G-72)
Cincinnati, OH 45268
Official Business
Penalty for Private Use $300
BULK RATE
POSTAGE & FEES PAID
EPA
PERMIT NO. G-35
EPA/600/SR-96/060
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