Particle-bound PAHs quantification using a 3-stages cascade impactor in French indoor environments

• Cascade Impactor is powerful to quantify particle-bound PAHs related to the particles size.
• PM in different indoor environments have been sampled for PAHs quantification.
• High molecular weight PAHs are mainly bound to the finest particles.
• Most of individual PAHs were found in all the fractions of indoor air particles.

Cascade Impactor is a powerful sampling method to collect airborne particles as a function of their size. The 3-stages Cascade Impactor used in this study allowed to sample simultaneously particles with aerodynamic diameter Dae > 10 μm, 2.5 μm < Dae < 10 μm, 1 μm < Dae < 2.5 μm and Dae < 1 μm. Once collected individual concentrations of the 16 US-EPA priority Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) bound to particles were quantified for 8 different indoor environments located in Strasbourg area in France. All the heavy PAHs owning between 4 and 6 aromatic rings were detected in all of the 8 sampling sites. The total PAHs concentration varied from 0.44 to 2.09 ng m−3 for a low-energy building school and a smoking apartment, respectively. Results revealed also that high molecular weight PAHs were mainly associated to the finest particles. Our data are consistent with those measured elsewhere in European indoor environments.

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