| Environmental Engineering |
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| Dispersion modeling and health risk assessment of dioxin emissions from a municipal solid waste incinerator in Hangzhou, China |
| Xiao-jun Ma, Xu-guang Jiang, Yu-qi Jin, Hong-mei Liu, Xiao-dong Li, Tong Chen, Jian-hua Yan |
| State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Institute for Thermal Power Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China |
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Abstract The emission of dioxins from municipal solid waste incinerators (MSWIs) has become a widespread concern. The effect of meteorological parameters (wind speed, atmospheric stability and mixing height) on the hourly ground level concentration (GLC) of dioxins was estimated using air dispersion models. Moreover, the health risks of dioxin exposure were evaluated for children and adults using the Nouwen equation. The total environmental exposure via air inhalation and food ingestion was calculated, based on linear fit equations. The results indicate that potentially severe pollution from dioxins occurs at a wind speed of 1.5 m/s with atmospheric stability class F. In addition, local residents in the study area are exposed to severe weather conditions most of the time, and the risk exposures for children are far higher than those for adults. The total exposure for children far exceeds the tolerable daily intake of dioxin recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) of 1–4 pg TEQ/(kg·d) under severe weather conditions. Results from modeling calculations of health risk assessment were consistent with dioxin levels obtained during actual monitoring of emissions.
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Received: 25 June 2011
Published: 04 January 2012
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