The emission of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from landfills, in particular odour pollutants, can cause severe consequences by polluting the environment and jeopardizing the human health with their potential carcinogenicity and hazardousness. For this reason, it is crucial to control and evaluate the emission of VOCs in order to ensure the workers safety. Specifically, this work is focusing on the safety of landfill site workers and panellists involved in olfactometric analysis where VOCs emitted from landfills are evaluated by a thorough literature review and compared by their concentrations with their odorous capacity and toxicological characteristics. Then, the odour threshold concentrations (OTs) with the toxicological threshold limit values (TLVs) of different VOCs are quantified for 6 landfill emissions sources (biogas emissions, leachate emissions, sludge emissions, fresh waste emissions, permanently covered landfill surface emissions and temporarily covered landfill surface emissions). Consequently, by quantifying the hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI), the toxicity level of the VOCs is identified and evaluated for different sampling methods such as hood method and ambient air sampling. As a result of this work, focusing on the exposure of site workers and panellists, by realizing the sampling methods of each landfill emission sources, the exposure and the safety condition of both panellists and site workers is evaluated. The emitted VOCs sampled in ambient air, can be inhaled both by the site workers and panellists while the VOC emissions, sampled by hood method, can only be inhaled by panellists because it does not enter directly in ambient air but is collected for olfactometric analysis. The results show that sludge and biogas emissions should be cautiously considered for their toxicity since their HQ and HI values are greater than one. Therefore, it is concluded that VOCs emitted from biogas should be diluted to provide safe working environment for the panellists and VOCs emitted from sludge threatens the site workers safety as they could make negligible but not serious health problems.
L'emissione di Composti Organici Volatili (VOCs), in particolare odorigeni, dalle discariche può avere un impatto negativo sull’ambiente e sulla salute umana, a causa della loro potenziale pericolosità. Per questo motivo è fondamentale monitorare l'emissione di VOC al fine di garantire la sicurezza dei lavoratori esposti a queste emissioni. Nello specifico, questo lavoro si è posto l’obbiettivo di indagare il rischio correlato all’esposizione di composti volatili emessi dalle discariche per i diversi lavoratori esposti, in particolare sia i lavoratori dei siti di discarica sia gli esaminatori coinvolti nell'analisi olfattometrica. Questa valutazione è stata effettuata partendo da una approfondita ricerca di letteratura inerente le emissioni gassose generate da impianti di discarica. In seguito si sono confrontate le concentrazioni massime dei composti rilevati nelle emissioni di discarica con i rispettivi limiti di esposizione lavorativa per le 8 ore (TLV-TWA) e definendo quindi due parametri tossicologici molto importanti, l’Hazard Quotient (HQ), relativo ai singoli composti osservati, e l’Hazard Index (HI), ottenuto come la somma degli HQ osservati per i diversi composti rilevati globalmente in un campione. Da questa ricerca è stato dunque, possibile valutata l'esposizione e le condizioni di sicurezza sia dei lavoratori di discarica sia dei membri del panel coinvolti nell’analisi olfattometrica. Per quest’ultimi è stato possibile stimare, dai valori di HI osservati, le diluizioni minime da imporre per garantire la loro sicurezza durante lo svolgimento delle analisi olfattometriche. I risultati ottenuti dalla ricerca mostrano che le emissioni provenienti da sorgenti quali fanghi e biogas presentano un valore di HI maggiore di 1. Per queste emissioni è necessario diluire, rispettivamente, di 4 volte e 5236 volte per poter garantire la sicurezza dei lavoratori esposti durante la conduzione delle analisi olfattometriche.
Evaluation of non-carcinogenic toxicological effects of odorous volatile compounds emitted from landfills
ESSNA ASHARI, BAHARAK
2020/2021
Abstract
The emission of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from landfills, in particular odour pollutants, can cause severe consequences by polluting the environment and jeopardizing the human health with their potential carcinogenicity and hazardousness. For this reason, it is crucial to control and evaluate the emission of VOCs in order to ensure the workers safety. Specifically, this work is focusing on the safety of landfill site workers and panellists involved in olfactometric analysis where VOCs emitted from landfills are evaluated by a thorough literature review and compared by their concentrations with their odorous capacity and toxicological characteristics. Then, the odour threshold concentrations (OTs) with the toxicological threshold limit values (TLVs) of different VOCs are quantified for 6 landfill emissions sources (biogas emissions, leachate emissions, sludge emissions, fresh waste emissions, permanently covered landfill surface emissions and temporarily covered landfill surface emissions). Consequently, by quantifying the hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI), the toxicity level of the VOCs is identified and evaluated for different sampling methods such as hood method and ambient air sampling. As a result of this work, focusing on the exposure of site workers and panellists, by realizing the sampling methods of each landfill emission sources, the exposure and the safety condition of both panellists and site workers is evaluated. The emitted VOCs sampled in ambient air, can be inhaled both by the site workers and panellists while the VOC emissions, sampled by hood method, can only be inhaled by panellists because it does not enter directly in ambient air but is collected for olfactometric analysis. The results show that sludge and biogas emissions should be cautiously considered for their toxicity since their HQ and HI values are greater than one. Therefore, it is concluded that VOCs emitted from biogas should be diluted to provide safe working environment for the panellists and VOCs emitted from sludge threatens the site workers safety as they could make negligible but not serious health problems.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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Baharak Essna ashari. Evaluation of non-carcinogenic toxicological effects of odorous volatile compounds emitted from landfills.pdf
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/175263