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Cross-media partitioning, sources, and health risks of phthalate esters in campus indoor air and PM2.5
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Researchers measured plastic-related chemicals called phthalates in air and fine dust (PM2.5) across classrooms, dorms, canteens, and courier stations at a Chinese university. Levels varied by season and location, with sources traced to plastic products, building materials, and daily-use items. Breathing in dust was the main exposure route, and two compounds, DBP and DIBP, were flagged as priorities for control.
Campus environments present functionally heterogeneous indoor settings for multiphase phthalate esters (PAEs) exposure. Here, paired gas-phase and PM2.5 samples were collected from classrooms, dormitories, canteens, and courier stations at a university campus in Hebei Province, China, during spring and summer 2025. Fifteen PAEs were quantitatively analyzed to identify how microenvironmental functions and cross-medium distributions jointly regulate PAEs source characteristics, gas-particle partitioning, source contributions, and health-risk prioritization. Total PAE concentrations ranged from 1.11 × 102 to 1.53 × 103 ng m-3 in air and from 3.14 × 101 to 2.94 × 102 ng m-3 in PM2.5. Seasonal variation was characterized by a summer shift of lower-molecular-weight PAEs toward the gas phase, accompanied by compound- and microenvironment-specific changes in particle-bound PAEs. Gas-particle partitioning varied with KOA with low-KOA PAEs preferentially occurring in the gas phase and high-KOA PAEs showing greater particle association, while the dynamic partitioning framework better described the measured behavior than the instantaneous-equilibrium model. Source apportionment indicated phase- and season-dependent potential source patterns associated mainly with plasticized products, building/decorative materials, and daily-use products. The health risk assessment indicated that ingestion of PM2.5-bound PAEs was the dominant exposure pathway, and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate was the main contributor to carcinogenic risk. Toxicological Priority Index ranking further identified dibutyl phthalate and diisobutyl phthalate as priority compounds for cross-media control. This study demonstrates that paired measurements of the gas phase and PM2.5 enable more precise identification of phase-specific pollution sources, exposure pathways, and priority control pollutants across distinct indoor scenarios on campus.
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