A Review on Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) as Environmental Pollutants: Fate and Distribution

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (02) ◽  
pp. 14-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Puneeta Pandey ◽  
Radheshyam Yadav
Keyword(s):  
Health Effects ◽  
Organic Compounds ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Environmental Pollutants ◽  
Contaminated Groundwater ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Adverse Health Effects ◽  
Household Products ◽  
Volatile Organic ◽  
Concentration Levels

VOCs include a variety of organic chemicals emitted as gases from certain solids and liquids. The nature and extent of these health effects depend on the concentration levels of these VOCs and the duration of their exposure and pose adverse health effects to humans. Although VOCs are found in a variety of industrial, commercial and household products; it is their concentration in wells and groundwater that has gained attention in recent years. When VOCs are spilled or improperly disposed of, a portion of it after evaporation are soaked on the ground, which eventually reaches wells and groundwater. Drinking of inadequately treated VOCs contaminated groundwater is potentially harmful to human beings. Trichloroethylene and vinyl chloride are most toxic and carcinogenic among all VOCs. The present paper reviews the sources, health risks, transport and fate of these VOCs in groundwater. Besides, analytical methods for the detection of VOCs in groundwater and techniques for mitigation of VOCs from groundwater have also been discussed.

scholarly journals Nutrition and Other Protective Behaviors Motivated by Environmental Health Risk Awareness

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth W. Jones ◽  
Limin Feng ◽  
Jane K. Dixon ◽  
John P. Dixon ◽  
Carolyn R. Hofe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Behaviors ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Nutrition Education ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Hazardous Waste ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Environmental Pollutants ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Hazardous Waste Sites ◽  
Adverse Health Effects

Background: Research findings have suggested that exposure to environmental pollutants contributes to increased health risks, which may be modulated by certain nutrition and other protective health behaviors. Nutrition professionals play an important role in effectively disseminating this information and in devising specific community-based nutrition education programs for audiences located in areas with environmental health issues. Objective: To assess awareness of environmental health problems and motivation to adopt protective health behaviors for use in planning nutrition education programs for communities exposed to environmental pollutants. Method: Data were collected from a modified, validated Environmental Health Engagement Profile (EHEP) survey instrument administered to adults (n=774) participating in community events in Kentucky based on location relative to hazardous waste sites. Results: The modified EHEP survey instrument showed good internal consistency reliability, and demographic characteristics were evaluated. Correlation analyses revealed significant positive correlations in all groups, separately and combined, between awareness of environmental pollution in an individual’s surroundings and the extent of concern that pollutants cause adverse health effects (P < 0.01) and between concern that pollutants cause adverse health effects and taking personal actions to protect against such environmental insults (P < 0.01). The groups having the highest level of awareness posed by pollution are those residing near federally designated hazardous waste sites. Conclusion: These results suggest that determining and expanding an audience’s knowledge and perceptions of environmental health risks will enhance effective nutrition education program planning.

scholarly journals Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) as Environmental Pollutants: Occurrence and Mitigation Using Nanomaterials

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (24) ◽  
pp. 13147
Author(s):  
Elena David ◽  
Violeta-Carolina Niculescu
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Volatile Organic Compounds ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Organic Compounds ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Environmental Pollutants ◽  
Outdoor Environment ◽  
Volatile Organic ◽  
As Adsorption ◽  
Indoor And Outdoor

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) comprise various organic chemicals which are released as gases from different liquids or solids. The nature and impact of the health effects are dependent on the VOCs concentrations and, also, on the exposure time. VOCs are present in different household, industrial or commercial and products, but their accumulation in air and water has primarily gained attention. Among VOCs, trichloroethylene and vinyl chloride are the most toxic and carcinogenic compounds. In order to improve the indoor air and water quality, VOCs can be removed via efficient approaches involving nanomaterials, by using techniques such as adsorption, catalysis or photocatalysis. In the recent years, the development of manufacturing procedures, characterization techniques and testing processes has resulted in the growth of nanomaterials obtaining and applications, creating great possibilities and also a tremendous provocation in applying them for highly efficient VOCs removal. This review is intended to contribute to the improvement of awareness and knowledge on the great potential that nanomaterials have in VOCs removal, in order a to improve indoor and outdoor environment, but also the worldwide water sources.

scholarly journals Bioconservation of Historic Stone Buildings—An Updated Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 5695
Author(s):  
Benjamín Otto Ortega-Morales ◽  
Christine Claire Gaylarde
Keyword(s):  
Organic Compounds ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Cell Walls ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Bacterial Cells ◽  
Original Condition ◽  
Human Health Risks ◽  
Volatile Organic ◽  
Heritage Buildings ◽  
Historic Stone

Cultural heritage buildings of stone construction require careful restorative actions to maintain them as close to the original condition as possible. This includes consolidation and cleaning of the structure. Traditional consolidants may have poor performance due to structural drawbacks such as low adhesion, poor penetration and flexibility. The requirement for organic consolidants to be dissolved in volatile organic compounds may pose environmental and human health risks. Traditional conservation treatments can be replaced by more environmentally acceptable, biologically-based, measures, including bioconsolidation using whole bacterial cells or cell biomolecules; the latter include plant or microbial biopolymers and bacterial cell walls. Biocleaning can employ microorganisms or their extracted enzymes to remove inorganic and organic surface deposits such as sulfate crusts, animal glues, biofilms and felt tip marker graffiti. This review seeks to provide updated information on the innovative bioconservation treatments that have been or are being developed.

scholarly journals Non-Invasive Method to Detect Infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex in Wild Boar by Measurement of Volatile Organic Compounds Obtained from Feces with an Electronic Nose System

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 584
Author(s):  
Kelvin de Jesús Beleño-Sáenz ◽  
Juan Martín Cáceres-Tarazona ◽  
Pauline Nol ◽  
Aylen Lisset Jaimes-Mogollón ◽  
Oscar Eduardo Gualdrón-Guerrero ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Volatile Organic Compounds ◽  
Wild Boar ◽  
Organic Compounds ◽  
Electronic Nose ◽  
Bovine Tuberculosis ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Testing Phase ◽  
Volatile Organic ◽  
Electronic Nose System

More effective methods to detect bovine tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium bovis, in wildlife, is of paramount importance for preventing disease spread to other wild animals, livestock, and human beings. In this study, we analyzed the volatile organic compounds emitted by fecal samples collected from free-ranging wild boar captured in Doñana National Park, Spain, with an electronic nose system based on organically-functionalized gold nanoparticles. The animals were separated by the age group for performing the analysis. Adult (>24 months) and sub-adult (12–24 months) animals were anesthetized before sample collection, whereas the juvenile (<12 months) animals were manually restrained while collecting the sample. Good accuracy was obtained for the adult and sub-adult classification models: 100% during the training phase and 88.9% during the testing phase for the adult animals, and 100% during both the training and testing phase for the sub-adult animals, respectively. The results obtained could be important for the further development of a non-invasive and less expensive detection method of bovine tuberculosis in wildlife populations.

scholarly journals Spatial Distribution, Source Apportionment, Ozone Formation Potential, and Health Risks of Volatile Organic Compounds over a Typical Central Plain City in China

Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1365
Author(s):  
Kun He ◽  
Zhenxing Shen ◽  
Jian Sun ◽  
Yali Lei ◽  
Yue Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Volatile Organic Compounds ◽  
Source Apportionment ◽  
Organic Compounds ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
High Time Resolution ◽  
Ozone Formation ◽  
Industrial Site ◽  
Industrial Emissions ◽  
Volatile Organic

The profiles, contributions to ozone formation, and associated health risks of 56 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) species were investigated using high time resolution observations from photochemical assessment monitoring stations (PAMs) in Luoyang, China. The daily averaged concentration of total VOCs (TVOCs) was 21.66 ± 10.34 ppbv in urban areas, 14.45 ± 7.40 ppbv in suburbs, and 37.58 ± 13.99 ppbv in an industrial zone. Overall, the VOCs levels in these nine sites followed a decreasing sequence of alkanes > aromatics > alkenes > alkyne. Diurnal variations in VOCs exhibited two peaks at 8:00–9:00 and 19:00–20:00, with one valley at 23:00–24:00. Source apportionment indicated that vehicle and industrial emissions were the dominant sources of VOCs in urban and suburban sites. The industrial site displayed extreme levels, with contributions from petrochemical-related sources of up to 38.3%. Alkenes and aromatics displayed the highest ozone formation potentials because of their high photochemical reactivity. Cancer and noncancer risks in the industrial site were higher than those in the urban and suburban areas, and USEPA possible risk thresholds were reached in the industrial site, indicating PAMs VOC–related health problems cannot be ignored. Therefore, vehicle and industrial emissions should be prioritized when considering VOCs and O3 control strategies in Luoyang.

A survey of household products for volatile organic compounds

1992 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 1063-1070 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Sack ◽  
David H. Steele ◽  
Karen Hammerstrom ◽  
Janet Remmers
Keyword(s):  
Volatile Organic Compounds ◽  
Organic Compounds ◽  
Household Products ◽  
Volatile Organic

scholarly journals Health Risks Associated with the Consumption of Legumes Contaminated with Pesticides and Heavy Metals

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Motunrayo Ganiyat Akande
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Dietary Fiber ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Safety Measures ◽  
Congenital Disabilities

Legumes have high nutritional value and they are important sources of protein, carbohydrates, fats and dietary fiber. The contamination of legumes with pesticides and heavy metals has been reported in scientific literature. Human beings are mainly exposed to the residues of pesticides and heavy metals through the dietary route. The purpose of this review chapter is to highlight the acute and chronic health risks that human beings may be exposed to as a result of the ingestion of legumes polluted with pesticides and heavy metals. Additionally, the mechanisms through which pesticides and heavy metals engender different undesirable health outcomes in human beings were stated. Scientific literature were perused and the information contained in them were collated to derive this chapter. Pesticides cause short-term health effects including hypersensitivity and mortality, while heavy metals induce acute effects like seizures and death. Some chronic untoward effects of pesticides are congenital disabilities and neurological damage. Heavy metals elicit disorders like anemia, hypertension and cancer. It is envisaged that the findings documented in this review will create awareness of the health risks posed by the contamination of legumes with the residues of pesticides and heavy metals so that food safety measures can be enforced globally.

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