PAH concentrations and exposure assessment from house dust retained in air-conditioning filters collected from Greater Doha, Qatar

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) bound in dust retained in air-conditioning unit filters from 13 households in Greater Doha, Qatar, were quantified using GC–MS spectrometry. The median concentrations of ∑16PAH and ∑7PAH were 218.0 ng g−1 (± 125.3) and 112.1 ng g−1 (± 60.2) dry weight, respectively. Results show that except one sample, three- and four-benzene-ring PAHs were dominant in all dust samples. Phenanthrene, anthracene, pyrene, benzene(a)anthracene, and chrysene were dominant in 12 samples with maximum concentrations of 69.7 ng g−1 (± 24.0), 92.9 ng g−1 (± 28.1), 60.4 ng g−1 (± 14.7), 38.6 ng g−1 (± 7.3), and 14.7 ng g−1 (± 3.5), respectively. Benzo(k)fluoranthene has the most abundance of the quantified PAHs in the dust samples accounting for 19% of the total PAHs. Although Kriging interpolation shows a spatial variation of PAHs from north to south of Greater Doha, the mean concentrations in both directions were statically insignificant. Five samples displayed levels of benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) with maximum and median concentrations at 110.8 ng g−1 and 49.9 (± 28.4) dry weight, respectively. Benzo(a)pyrene equivalent approach (BaPE) was applied to assess carcinogenic exposure, and the resulting values (1.3–116.4 ng g−1) indicate that the levels observed were below the values reported for other countries within the region. Estimated daily ingestion (EDI) rates of PAHs retained in ACU filters were assessed for five age-groups 19 years and were 0.39 (± 0.1), 0.33 (± 0.1), 0.20 (± 0.02), 0.07 (± 0.02), and 0.05 (± 0.01) ng kg−1/day, respectively. Source apportionment estimate indicates PAHs bound in dust retained in ACU filters are originated from pyrogenic sources.Open Access funding provided by the Qatar National Library. We acknowledge QNRF for their continued financial support of NPRP8-202-3-043. We are grateful to the technical staff and management of the chemical analysis laboratory at the Environmental Science Center and Prof Hamad Al Kawari and Mrs., Hajer Al Niami for their support during analysis. Our thanks also go to Mr. Mazen Al Asali and Mrs. Noora Al Shamary for their assistance in the sample analysis. We also are thankful to the families of residents for their participation. Our thanks go to Dr. Jeff Obbard for his support and encouragement in formulating this research. Finally, we are ever grateful to Mark Chatting for his time in reviewing the English language of this article.Scopu