Regional assessment of ambient volatile organic compounds from biopharmaceutical R&D complex

Biopharmaceutical R&D complexes are major emission sources of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which may pose potential health risks for staff on site and residents nearby. In this paper health risk assessments were performed for the VOCs in the ambient air of a typical biopharmaceutical R&D complex in China. Results showed halogenated and alkyl compounds were dominant components among 24 major VOCs from 9 selected sampling sites, inside or around the complex. The principal component analysis (PCA) indicated VOCs were generated predominantly from the biopharmaceutical research activities (factor 1 (F1), 71.6%) and traffic vehicles (factor 2 (F2), 15.4%), which were confirmed by contour maps of five selected VOCs (benzene, toluene, chlorobenzene, methylene chloride and n-hexane) simulated by Golden Software Surfer. The cumulative cancer risks for the staff on site and residents nearby were investigated and results showed the risk value were 1.01E−5 and 2.03E−5, respectively, higher than the threshold value of 1.0E−6. These results indicated that elevated VOCs from biopharmaceutical R&D complex are potential risks to the public health. Furthermore, the human health risk assessment revealed that 1,2-dichloroethane, methylene chloride, carbon tetrachloride and benzene were the dominant risk contributors for staff on site, while methyl chloride, carbon tetrachloride, 1,2-dichloroethane and tetrahydrofuran for residents nearby. As a conclusion, this work suggests that proper control strategy should be taken for VOCs releasing to minimize the public health risks, especially for the halogenated compounds.

► It is the first study to research biopharmaceutical R&D complex in China.
► The detected VOCs in ambient air in or around this complex do pose potential cancer risks for both staff on site and residents nearby.
► Risk management cannot be neglected any more in this kind of complexes.