Available online at www.sciencedirect.

com

Environment International 34 (2008) 102 107

www.elsevier.com/locate/envint

Exposure and health-risk assessment of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins

and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) for sinter plant workers
Tung-Sheng Shih a,b , Wen-Jhy Lee c,d , Minliang Shih e , Yu-Cheng Chen f , Sheng-Lung Huang c ,
Lin-Chi Wang g , Guo-Ping Chang-Chien g , Perng-Jy Tsai d,f,
a
Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Council of Labor Affairs, Executive Yuan, 99, Lane 407, Heng-Ke Rd., Shijr, Taipei, Taiwan
b
Graduate Institute of Environmental Health, College of Public Health, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung 404, Taiwan
c
Department of Environmental Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, 1, University Road, Tainan 701, Taiwan
d
Sustainable Environment Research Center, National Cheng Kung University, 1, University Road, Tainan 701, Taiwan
e
Department of Environmental Engineering and Science, Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science. 60, Sec. 1, Erh-Jen Road, Tainan 717, Taiwan
f
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Medical College, National Cheng Kung University. 138, Sheng-Li Road, Tainan 704, Taiwan
g
Department of Chemical Engineering, Cheng Shiu University, 840, Chengching Road, Kaohsiung 833, Taiwan
Received 22 January 2007; accepted 24 July 2007
Available online 29 August 2007

Abstract

This study was set out to assess polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) exposures and health-risk impact posed on
sinter plant workers. One sinter plant located in southern Taiwan was selected and their workers were divided into four exposure groups based on
their work tasks, including raw material charging workers, sintering grate workers, shredding workers, and others. Results show that their mean
total PCDD/F and the corresponding total I-TEQ exposure levels shared the same trend as: shredding workers N others N sintering grate
workers N raw material charging workers. For all selected exposure groups, their PCDD/F exposures were dominated by the particle phase
contents. Congener profiles of the gaseous + particle phase PCDD/Fs were found with more fractions of high chlorinated congeners than low
chlorinated congeners. The lifetime average daily doses (LADDs) and their resultant excess cancer risks (ECRs) found for sinter plant workers
were higher than those residents living at the residential area and rural area, but were lower than those living at the nearby of the selected sinter
plant, urban area, industrial area. Considering ECRs of the sinter plant workers were still higher than 10 6 suggesting the need for adopting proper
control measurements for reducing workers' PCDD/F exposures, particularly for those sinter zone workers.
2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Sinter plant workers; PCDD/Fs; Congener profile; Exposure assessment; Health-risk assessment

1. Introduction thoroughly mixed with 5% of a finely divided fuel, such as

Iron and steel are important commodities in many industries.
Five important working processes are involved in the manufac-
turing of iron and steel, including palletizing, sintering, iron-
making, steel-making, and finishing processes. Prior to sintering
process, iron ore fines, iron-bearing recovery materials (such as
iron-bearing dusts and slag), and fluxes (lime or dolomite) are
Corresponding author. Department of Environmental and Occupational
Health, Medical College, National Cheng Kung University, 138, Sheng-Li
Road, Tainan 70428, Taiwan. Tel.: +886 6 2088390; fax: +886 6 2752484.
E-mail address: pjtsai@mail.ncku.edu.tw (P.-J. Tsai).
0160-4120/$ - see front matter 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.envint.2007.07.010
coke breeze or anthracite. Then the mixed materials are
discharged at raw materials inlet and placed on a traveling
grate, and finally ignited while passing under an ignition burner
(fueled with natural gas and air) for sinter purpose. During
sintering, the air is pulled down through the sintering material
bed as the grate moves slowly toward the end for shredding. As
the coke fines burn in the sintering material bed, the generated
heat sinters/or fuses the fine particles with the temperature of the
bed reaches 1300 to 1500 C. Mean production rates of 20 to
40 metric tons d 1m 2 of grate area are expected depending
upon the characteristics of the ore materials and the sintering
conditions (US EPA, 2001). Typical operation conditions for the
sintering process have been described in more details elsewhere
 T.-S. Shih et al. / Environment International 34 (2008) 102107
(Cieplik et al., 2003; Wang et al., 2003a). Because the recovery
of iron-bearing materials from other processes of the steel
plant provides trace chlorine and organic compounds, poly-
chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs)
are formed through the de novo synthesis during the sintering
process (Huang and Buekens, 1996; Fisher et al., 1998; Buekens
et al., 2001).
The iron ore sintering process has been known to be one of
the major emission sources of PCDD/Fs (Lahl, 1993, 1994).
PCDD/F emissions from sinter plants accounted for 3.2% of
total dioxin emissions in Japan (Japan Ministry of the
Environment, 2002) and 19.6% in Europe (Qua et al.,
2000). In the UK, the contribution of sinter plants to the total
dioxin inventory raised from 37% in 1995 to 1134% in 1998
(Alcock and Jones, 1996; Douben, 1997; Anderson and Fisher,
2002) because the contributions of other sources have decreased
over this period. The same trend can also be seen in Taiwan.
Wang (2003) reported that the total emission of the only four
sinter plants in Taiwan was still the most important PCDD/F
emission sources in the area (59%) in 2002 owing to the
application of a more stringent limit (0.1 ng I-TEQ Nm 3)
to sixteen of twenty three municipal waste incinerators built
after 2001.
During past decade, many studies have been conducted to
characterize PCDD/F emissions from stacks of various
industries and to assess their impacts on the surrounding
environments. However, it should be noted that PCDD/F
fugitive emissions from various industrial processes might
cause serious health-risk impacts on workers. To date several
studies have been conducted to characterize the above issue, but
nearly all these studies assessed health risks of workers based
on their serum PCDD/F levels (Schecter et al., 1995; Kumagai
et al., 2000; Kumagai et al., 2002; Hu et al., 2003; Bakoglu
et al., 2004). It is known that workers' serum PCDD/F levels
reflect not only their occupational exposures but also their daily
dietary, and background exposures from various ambient envi-
ronments. In order to directly assess the impact of PCDD/F
process fugitive emissions on workers' lifetime health risks, this
study is designated to measure workers' occupational PCDD/F
exposures. The results obtained from this study will also be
compared with those health risks posed on arc furnace plant
workers (Chen et al., 2006), peoples living in the industrial area,
urban area, residential area, rural area of Taiwan (Wang et al.,
2003b) and at the nearby of the selected sinter plant (Shih et al.,
2006) for illustration.
Table 1
Total PCDD/Fs and their corresponding total I-TEQ concentrations found in the four involved worksites of the selected sinter plant
Worksites Total PCDD/Fs (pg Nm 3)
Gaseous Particle-bound
Raw materials inlet (n = 3) 0.53 (8.3%) 7.08 (91.7%)
Sintering grate (n = 3) 2.16 (13.5%) 17.0 (86.5%)
Rough roll shredder (n = 3) 2.66 (13.5%) 20.51 (86.5%)
Control room (n = 3) 0.21 (14.8%) 1.54 (85.2%)
Values in parentheses represent the fractions of gaseous or particle phase in the corresponding total concentrations.
103
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Selecting occupational exposure groups and establishing their
time/activity patterns
One sinter plant, located in southern Taiwan with a selective catalytic
reduction (SCR) air pollution control device, was selected in this study. Workers
of the selected sinter plant were divided into four occupational exposure groups
based on their work tasks, including raw material charging workers (to
periodically monitor raw material charging condition at the nearby of the raw
material inlet), sintering grate workers (to periodically monitor the sintering
condition at the nearby of the sintering grate), shredding workers (to periodically
monitor shredding condition of sinters at the nearby of the rough roll shredder)
and others (to monitor the entire sintering process by periodically supervising
the above three types of workers). All these workers, besides staying at the
above worksites for performing their work tasks, spent most of their time in the
control room (located at the end of the sintering grate). We carefully registered
the duration of each selected worker staying at each individual worksite based
on the entire worksheet. This allowed us to establish the time/activity patterns
for all involved workers.
2.2. Field samplings
In this study, static samplings were conducted at the four involved worksites,
including the raw materials inlet (site A), sintering grate (site B), and rough roll
shredder (site C) and the control room. All air samples were colleted by using a
high-volume PS-1 sampler (Greaseby Anderson, GA). This sampler was
equipped with a quartz-fibre filter for collecting PCDD/Fs of the particle phase,
and followed by a XAD cartridge for collecting PCDD/Fs of the gaseous phase.
The above sampling method is in accordance with the revised EPA Reference
Method T09A. The sampling flow rate was specified at 0.225 m3 min 1. Each
sample was collected continuously on four consecutive days (sampling
volume = 1300 m3). A known amount of surrogate standard was spiked to
the glass cartridge in the laboratory prior to the field sampling being conducted.
2.3. Sample analysis
Analyses of the collected air samples strictly followed the US EPA
Reference Method T09A and were performed in the Super Micro Mass Research
and Technology Center of the Cheng Shiu University. This center has been
certified by the Taiwan EPA to analyze PCDD/Fs and has passed the
international inter-calibration on PCDD/Fs in fly ash, sediment, mothers'
milk, human blood and cod liver. More detailed information regarding this
center can be found in our previous work (Wang et al., 2003b). A high-resolution
gas chromatograph (HRGC) coupled with a high-resolution mass spectrometer
(HRMS) was used to quantify PCDD/F contents of the samples. The HRGC was
a Hewlett Packard 6970 Series gas chromatograph, equipped with a DB-5 (J&W
Scientific, CA, USA) fused silica capillary column (60 m, 0.25 mm ID, 0.25 m
film thickness), and splitless injection. The initial oven temperature was
specified at 150 C. The temperature was programmed as follows: 150 C, held
for 1 min, increased by 30 C min 1 to 220 C, held for 12 min, increased at
1.5 C min 1 to 240 C, held for 5 min, increased at 1.5 C min 1 to 310 C, and
Total I-TEQ (pg I-TEQ Nm 3)
Total Gaseous Particle-bound Total
7.61 0.07 (12.8%) 0.48 (87.2%) 0.55
19.16 0.44 (25.4%) 1.32 (74.6%) 1.76
23.17 0.55 (25.8%) 1.59 (74.2%) 2.14
1.75 0.05 (26.6%) 0.11 (73.4%) 0.16
104 T.-S. Shih et al. / Environment International 34 (2008) 102107

Table 2
Contents of PCDDs and PCDFs contain in total PCDD/Fs and their corresponding total I-TEQ concentrations for the four involved worksites of the selected sinter
plant
Measured area PCDDs PCDFs PCDDs/PCDFs ratios PCDDs I-TEQ PCDFs I-TEQ PCDDs/PCDFs
(pg Nm 3) (pg Nm 3) in total PCDD/Fs (pg I-TEQ Nm 3) (pg I-TEQ Nm 3) ratios in total I-TEQ
Raw materials inlet (n = 3) 2.50 5.11 0.49 0.08 0.47 0.17
Sintering grate (n = 3) 4.22 14.94 0.28 0.19 1.56 0.12
Rough roll shredder (n = 3) 4.83 18.34 0.26 0.24 1.90 0.13
Control room (n = 3) 0.54 1.21 0.45 0.04 0.12 0.33

held for 20 min. Helium was used as the carrier gas. The HRMS was a
Micromass Autospec Ultima (UK) mass spectrometer with a positive electron
impact (EI+) source. The analyzer mode was selected ion monitoring (SIM) with
a resolving power of 10,000. The electron energy was set at 35 eV, and the
source temperature was set at 250 C.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. PCDD/F concentrations of the four selected worksites
PCDD/Fs (range= 8.3%14.8% and 12.8%26.6%, respectively). The
above results indicate that PCDD/Fs found in the workplaces were
dominated by particle-bound PCDD/Fs.
Table 2 shows PCDDs/PCDFs ratios in total PCDD/Fs and total
I-TEQ for the four selected workplaces. We found that all resultant ratios
were consistently less than unity (range= 0.260.49 and 0.120.33 in
total PCDD/Fs and total I-TEQ, respectively) indicating that PCDFs
were dominant in PCDD/F fugitive emissions from the selected sintering
process.

The characteristics of PCDD/F concentrations of the four selected
worksites have been described in details in our earlier publication (Shih
et al., 2006) and hence are briefly summarized in this work. As shown
in Table 1, the mean total PCDD/F concentrations found in sintering
zone (sites B and C = 19.16 and 23.17 pg Nm 3, respectively) were 3
times in magnitude higher than that found in the raw materials inlet area
(site A = 7.61 pg Nm 3) and 10 times higher than that found in the
control room (site D = 1.75 pg Nm 3). Since PCDD/Fs found in the
selected four worksites were simply contributed by fugitive emissions
from the sintering process, the relatively low concentration found at site
D was not only because of its remote location away from the sintering
zone, but also the filtration effect of the air conditioning device used in
the area. Because PCDD/Fs were not formed during raw materials
charging, PCDD/Fs in the site A obviously were contributed by the
diffusion of fugitive emissions from the sintering zone and hence were
lower than that found at the site B and site C. It is known that the
sintering materials placed on the grate were ignited by an on-top
ignition burner with the auxiliary air being pulled down through the
bed of sintering materials. The velocity of the downward air is expected
higher at the sintering grate than that at the shredder gate. Therefore,
mean PCDD/F concentrations found at the site B were lower than that
at the site C. A similar trend can also be found in total I-TEQ
concentrations (= 0.55, 1.76, 2.14, and 0.16 pg I-TEQ Nm 3 for site A,
B, C, and D, respectively).
Table 1 also shows fractions of gaseous and particle-bound PCDD/Fs
in total PCDD/F and total I-TEQ concentrations. For all selected work-
place atmospheres, we found that the fractions of particle-bound PCDD/Fs
(range = 85.2%91.7% and 73.4%87.2% in total PCDD/Fs and total
I-TEQ, respectively) were consistently higher than that of gaseous
3.2. PCDD/F exposure levels for sintering plant workers
Table 3 shows time/activity patterns for workers of the four selected
exposure groups. All selected workers spent less time (= 1.332.50 h)
at process areas (i.e., raw material inlet, sintering grate, and rough roll
shredder) than that at the control room (=4.006.33 h).
In this study, the mean PCDD/F exposure level (Cave; pg Nm 3 or
pg I-TEQ Nm 3) for each selected worker was estimated based on the
following equation:
X X
Cave Ci Ti = Ti
where Ci is the mean concentration found at site i (pg Nm 3 or pg I-
TEQ Nm 3) and Ti represents the duration for the selected worker
spent at site i (h). As shown in Table 4, the mean total PCDD/F
exposure levels in sequence for the four selected exposure groups
were: shredding workers (9.78 pg Nm 3) N others (9.20 pg Nm 3) N
sintering grate workers (7.19 pg Nm 3) N raw material charging work-
ers (2.97 pg Nm 3). The same trend can also be seen in their corre-
sponding mean total I-TEQ concentrations (i.e., shredding workers
(0.90 pg Nm 3) N others (0.82 pg Nm 3) N sintering grate workers
(0.66 pg Nm 3) N raw material charging workers (0.24 pg Nm 3)). For
all selected exposure groups, the fractions of particle-bound PCDD/Fs
(range = 88.5%90.6% and 73.3%79.2% in total PCDD/Fs and total
I-TEQ, respectively) were consistently higher than that of gaseous
PCDD/Fs (range = 9.4%11.5% and 20.8%26.7%, respectively) in
total PCDD/Fs. The above results clearly indicate that workers' PCDD/F
exposures were dominated by particle-bound PCDD/Fs.

Table 3
Time/activity patterns for sinter plant workers of the four selected exposure groups
Exposure groups Durations (h)
Raw material inlet Sintering grate Rough roll shredder Control room
Range Mean Range Mean Range Mean Range Mean
Raw material charging workers (n = 9) 1.003.00 1.67 0 0 0 0 5.007.00 6.33
Sintering grate workers (n = 6) 0 0 1.003.00 2.50 0 0 5.007.00 5.50
Shredding workers (n = 3) 0 0 0 0 3.00 3.00 5.00 5.00
Others (n = 6) 1.002.00 1.33 1.002.00 1.33 1.002.00 1.33 2.005.00 4.00
 T.-S. Shih et al. / Environment International 34 (2008) 102107 105

Table 4
Mean PCDD/Fs and their corresponding exposure levels for sinter plant workers of the four selected exposure groups
Exposure groups PCDD/Fs (pg Nm 3) I-TEQ (pg I-TEQ Nm 3)
Gaseous phase Particle-phase Total Gaseous phase Particle-phase Total
Raw material charging workers (n = 9) 0.28 (9.4%) 2.69 (90.6%) 2.97 0.05 (20.8%) 0.19 (79.2%) 0.24
Sintering grate workers (n = 6) 0.82 (11.4%) 6.37 (88.6%) 7.19 0.17 (25.8%) 0.49 (74.2%) 0.66
Shredding workers (n = 3) 1.13 (11.6%) 8.65 (88.5%) 9.78 0.24 (26. 7%) 0.67 (73.3%) 0.90
others (n = 6) 1.00 (10.9%) 8.20 (89.1%) 9.20 0.20 (24.4%) 0.62 (75.6%) 0.82
Values in parentheses represent the fractions of gaseous or particle phase in the corresponding total concentrations.

3.3. PCDD/F congener profiles exposed to sinter plant workers
Fig. 1 shows congener profiles of the gaseous phase, particle phase,
and gaseous + particle phases on the seventeen 2,3,7,8 substituted
PCDD/Fs for the four selected exposure groups. For congener profiles of
the gas + particle phases, the four selected exposure groups were found
being quite similar to each other, with more fractions of high chlorinated
congeners than low chlorinated congeners. Meanwhile, the above
congener profiles were also similar to their corresponding congener
profiles of the particle phase. The above results was obviously due to the
fact that all selected exposure groups were exposed to PCDD/Fs
dominated by particle-bound PCDD/Fs (88.5%90.6%), rather than by
gaseous PCDD/Fs (9.4%11.5%). Here, it should be noted that the
congener profiles of the gaseous + particle phases PCDD/Fs found in this
study were quite different from that found in the stack flue gas of the
selected sinter plant by Wang et al. (2003a). The above scenario was
clearly because most particulates were removed by electrostatic
precipitator before being discharged to the stack. The above inference
can be further confirmed by examining congener profiles of gas phase in
workers' exposures. Since gaseous phase PCDD/Fs were not effectively
removed by the above mentioned air cleaning device, therefore their
congener profiles, with lower chlorinated congeners dominating in
PCDFs, were similar to that obtained from the stack flue gas (Wang et al.,
2003a).
Fig. 1 also shows the contribution of each individual congener to the
total I-TEQ of the gaseous + particle phase. We found that the four selected
exposure groups shared the same trend, with 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF contributed
50% of the total I-TEQ. In addition, because of the high I-TEQ
concentrations also consistently found in 1,2,3,4,7,8-HxCDF, 2,3,6,7,8-
HxCDF, and 2,3,4,6,7,8-HxCDF in the four selected exposure groups, and
hence we found that the contribution of all PCDF congeners accounted for
80% of total I-TEQ.

Fig. 1. Congener profiles of total PCDD/Fs and their corresponding total I-TEQ for sinter plant workers of the four selected exposure groups.
106 T.-S. Shih et al. / Environment International 34 (2008) 102107

Table 5
Total PCDD/Fs and total I-TEQ exposure concentrations, and their resultant lifetime average daily doses (LADDs), and excess cancer risks (ECRs) for sinter plant
workers, electric arc furnace workers, casting furnace workers, and residents in Taiwan living at the nearby of the selected sinter plant, residential area, urban area,
industrial area, and rural area
Total PCDD/Fs and Sinter plant Residents living Arc furnace plant workers Residents living at different areas
total I-TEQ exposure workers at the nearby of in Taiwan (Chen et al., in Taiwan (Wang et al., 2003)
levels, and their (this study) the selected 2006)
resultant LADDs, sinter plant
Electric Casting Residential Urban Industrial Rural
and ECRs (Shih et al.,
arc furnace furnace area area area area
2006)
workers workers
Total PCDD/Fs 7.29 1.60 30.15 20.10 0.85 1.43 2.71 0.32
(pg Nm 3)
Total I-TEQ 0.66 0.07 1.56 1.92 0.05 0.09 0.19 0.02
(pg I-TEQ Nm 3)
LADD 0.014 0.015 0.034 0.042 0.011 0.019 0.041 0.004
(pg I-TEQ d 1 kg 1)
ECR 1.44 10 5 1.50 10 5 3.40 10 5 4.19 10 5 1.07 10 5 1.94 10 5 4.07 10 5 4.29 10 6

3.4. Health-risk assessment for sinter plant workers
Table 5 shows PCDD/F exposure concentrations, lifetime average
daily doses (LADDs), and their resultant excess cancer risks (ECRs) for
the selected sinter plant workers, residents living at the nearby of the
selected sinter plant (Shih et al., 2006), arc furnace plant workers (Chen
et al., 2006), and residents living in industrial area, urban area,
residential area, and rural area of Taiwan (Wang et al., 2003b) for
comparison. In this study, calculations of LADD and ECR were based
on follows:
LADD Vr  Cave  fr  Tf =24Df =365Yf =70=BW
ECR LADD  ql
where LADD: lifetime average daily dose via inhalatory exposure
(unit = pg I-TEQ d 1kg 1); Vr: ventilation rate for adults (= 20 Nm3
d 1); Cave: the mean total I-TEQ exposure level (pg I-TEQ Nm 3); fr:
the alveolar fraction retained in the lung (=0.75); Tf: time spent at the
impact site per day (= 8 h for workers and 24 h for residents); Df: days
spent at the impact site per year (= 260 days for workers, and 365 days
for residents); Yf: years spent at the impact site in their lifetime
(= 30 years for workers and 70 years for residents); BW: body weight
for adults (= 70 kg); ECR: excess cancer risk over a lifetime expectancy
of 70 years due to PCDD/F exposures; and ql: unit cancer risk of
1.0 10 3 (pg I-TEQ d 1kg 1) 1 as recommended by US EPA (2000)
for 2,3,7,8-TCDD by assuming other congeners in terms of the TEQs
have the same cancer-causing capacity as 2,3,7,8-TCDD.
For total PCDD/F and total I-TEQ exposure concentrations, it can
be seen that sinter plant workers had much higher exposure levels
(= 7.29 pg Nm 3 and 0.66 pg I-TEQ Nm 3, respectively) than residents
living at the nearby of the selected plant (= 1.60 pg Nm 3 and 0.07 pg
I-TEQ Nm 3, respectively) and residents of Taiwan living in
residential, urban, industrial, and rural areas (= 0.322.71 pg Nm 3
and 0.021.19 pg I-TEQ Nm 3, respectively). The resultant LADDs
and ECRs for sinter plant workers (= 0.014 pg I-TEQ d 1 kg 1 and
1.44 10 5, respectively) were only higher than that for residents in
Taiwan living at the residential area (= 0.011 pg I-TEQ d 1 kg 1 and
1.07 10 5 ) and rural area (= 0.004 pg I-TEQ d 1 kg 1 and
4.297 10 6), but were lower than that for residents living at the
nearby of the given sinter plant (= 0.015 pg I-TEQ d 1 kg 1 and
1.50 10 5), urban area (= 0.019 pg I-TEQ d 1 kg 1 and 1.94 10 5),
and industrial area (= 0.041 pg I-TEQ d 1 kg 1 and 4.07 10 5). The
above results clearly due to shorter exposure durations (in terms of Tf,
Df and Yf) being used to estimate both LADDs and ECRs for sinter
plant workers (=8 hrs, 260 days, and 30 years, respectively) than that
for residents (=24 hrs, 365 days, and 70 years, respectively).
On the other hand, we found that both electric arc furnace workers and
cast furnace workers had higher exposure levels in both total PCDD/Fs
(=30.15 and 20.10 pg Nm 3, respectively) and total I-TEQ (=1.56 and
1.92 pg I-TEQ Nm 3, respectively) than that for sinter plant workers.
Under the same exposure duration situations (in terms of Tf, Df and Yf), we
found that the resultant LADDs and ECRs for both electric arc furnace
workers (=0.034 pg I-TEQ d 1 kg 1 and 3.40 10 5) and cast furnace
workers (=0.042 pg I-TEQ d 1 kg 1 and 4.19 10 5) were also
consistently higher than that for sinter plant workers. It is concluded,
although sinter plants has become the most important PCDD/F ambient air
emission source in Taiwan, workers' health risks arising from fugitive
PCDD/F emissions from the sintering process might not be particularly
severe in comparison with workers in other industries. Nevertheless,
considering the estimated ECRs for sintering plant workers were still
higher than 10 6 suggesting that proper personal protection equipment
should be used in the field to effectively reduce workers' exposures,
particularly while they are performing their work tasks at the sintering
zone.
4. Conclusions
We found that both total PCDD/F and total I-TEQ exposures
of the four selected exposure groups were consistently
dominated by the particle phase contents. Congener profiles
of the gaseous + particle phase PCDD/Fs of the four selected
exposure groups shared the same trend, with more fractions of
high chlorinated congeners than low chlorinated congeners.
LADDs and ECRs found for sinter plant workers were higher
than that for residents in Taiwan living at the residential area and
rural area, but lower than those residents living at the nearby of
the selected sinter plant, urban area and industrial area. In
comparison with both electric arc furnace workers and cast
furnace workers, sinter plant workers had lower LADDs and
ECRs. The above results suggest that sinter plant, although has
become the most important PCDD/F ambient air emission
source in Taiwan, their workers PCDD/F exposure levels could
be still lower than workers in other industries. Nevertheless,
 T.-S. Shih et al. / Environment International 34 (2008) 102107
considering ECRs found for the sintering plant workers were
still higher than 10 6 suggesting that proper control measure-
ments should be taken particularly for those sinter plant workers
working at the sintering zone.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank the Institute of Occupational
Safety and Health (IOSH) of the Council of Labor Affairs in
Taiwan for funding this research project.
References
Alcock RE, Jones KC. Dioxins in the environment: a review of trend data.
Environ Sci Technol 1996;30:313343.
Anderson DR, Fisher R. Sources of dioxins in the United Kingdom: the steel
industry and other sources. Chemosphere 2002;46:37181.
Bakoglu M, Karademir A, Ayberk S. An evaluation of the occupational health risks
to workers in a hazardous waste incinerator. J Occup Health 2004;46:15664.
Buekens A, Stieglitz L, Hell K, Huang H, Segers P. Dioxins from thermal and
metallurgical processes: recent studies for the iron and steel industry. Chemo-
sphere 2001;42:72935.
Chen H-L, Shih T-S, Huang P-C, Hsieh C-Y, Lee C-C. Exposure of arc-furnace-
plant workers to dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs). Chemo-
sphere 2006;64:66671.
Cieplik MK, Carbonell JP, Muoz C, Baker S, Krger S, Liljelind P, et al. On dioxin
formation in iron ore sintering. Environ Sci Technol 2003;37:332331.
Douben PE. PCDD/F emissions to atmosphere in the UK and future trends.
Chemosphere 1997;34:11819.
Fisher R, Fray TAT, Anderson DR. Investigation on the formation of dioxins in the
sintering process. ICSTI / Ironmaking Conference Proceedings 1998:118393.
Hu SW, Cheng TJ, Chang-Chien GP, Chan CC. The association between dioxins/
furans exposures and incinerator workers' hepatic function and blood lipids. J
Occup Environ Med 2003;45:6018.
Huang H, Buekens A. De novo synthesis of PCDD/Fs: proposal of a mechanistic
scheme. Sci Total Environ 1996;193:12141.
Japan Ministry of the Environment. The environmental monitoring report on the
persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in Japan; 2002.
107
Kumagai S, Koda S, Miyakita T, Yamaguchi H, Katagi K, Yasuda N.
Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin and dibenzofuran concentrations in serum
samples of workers at continuously burning municipal waste incinerators in
Japan. J Occup Environ Med 2000;57:20410.
Kumagai S, Koda S, Miyakita T, Ueno M. Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin and
dibenzofuran concentrations in serum samples of workers at intermittently
burning municipal waste incinerators in Japan. J Occup Environ Med 2002;59:
3628.
Lahl U. Sintering plants of steel industry the most important thermical PCDD/F
source in industrialized regions. Organohalog Compd 1993;11:3114.
Lahl U. Sintering plants of steel industry PCDD/F emission status and
perspectives. Chemosphere 1994;29:193945.
Qua U, Fermann MW, Brker G. Steps towards a European dioxin emission
inventory. Chemosphere 2000;40:11259.
Schecter A, Papke O, Ball M, Lis A, Brandt-Rauf P. Dioxin concentrations in the
blood of workers at municipal waste incinerators. Occup Environ Med 1995;52:
3857.
Shih M-L, Lee W-J, Shih T-S, Huang S-L, Wang L-C, Chang-Chien G-P, et al.
Characterization of dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) in the
atmosphere of different workplaces of a sinter plant. Sci Total Environ 2006;366:
197205.
US EPA. Exposure and human health reassessment of 2,3,7, 8-TCDD and
related compounds Part I, vol. 3. Properties, environmental levels, and
background exposures. EPA/600/p-00/001Bc. Washington, DC: U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency; 2000.
U.S. EPA. Database of sources of environmental releases of dioxin like
compounds in the United States. EPA/600/C-01/012. Washington, DC: U. S.
Environmental Protection Agency; 2001.
Wang, L-C. Characteristics of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzo-
furans from emission sources and in the atmosphere. PhD Thesis, Tainan,
Taiwan: National Cheng Kung University, 2003. (in Chinese, with English
abstract).
Wang L-C, Lee W-J, Tsai P-J, Lee W-S, Chien-Chang G-P. Emissions of
polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans from stack flue gases
of sinter plants. Chemosphere 2003a;50:11239.
Wang L-C, Lee W-J, Lee W-S, Chang-Chien G-P, Tsai P-J. Characterizing the
emissions of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans from
crematories and their impacts to the surrounding environment. Environ Sci
Technol 2003b;37:627.