The study of indoor organic film on planar surfaces has been shown to be important to assess the transport and fate of organic pollutants in indoor environments. Limited research showed the relationship between equilibrium status of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and the growth days for indoor window films. To accomplish this goal, indoor window film samples were collected in relation to film growth days in Northeast China. PAHs were frequently detected in window films collected during heating season (H-season), with concentrations significantly higher than that of non-heating season (NH-season). Accumulation characteristics of PAH suggested that PAH concentrations (ng/m2 film) were growing near-linearly with time. Partitioning status for PAHs between gas and window films under different accumulation stage from 1 to 11 weeks was investigated during the two seasons. The equilibrium status of PAHs in the films suggested that the octanol-air partition coefficient (logKOA) of the targeted PAHs should be approximately <12 in order to reached the equilibrium stage within 11 weeks of growth. For all the growth days, the proportion of samples that reached equilibrium status for PAHs in the indoor window film samples were further calculated. The total air concentration of the target PAHs were predicted, giving median values of 900 and 240 ng/m3 in H-season and NH-season, respectively. Human health risk posed by PAHs was calculated in this research showing greater risks found for H-season than NH-season. The estimated incremental lifetime cancer risks were considered as safe with values lower than the WHO recommended guideline.
Keywords: Equilibrium; Northeast China; PAHs; Partitioning; Window film.
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