Phthalate esters (PAEs) are widely used in indoor environments and exist in the air, on airborne particles, in settled dust, and on material surfaces. To explore the effect of dust formation on the fate of indoor phthalates, a long-term mass transfer model of PAEs was proposed in this study, accounting for the change in dust loading caused by particle dynamics in the dust formation process as well as the porous properties of the dust layer. In addition, the model was evaluated by comparing it with experimental data from previous studies. By analyzing the simulation results, the following conclusions were drawn: (1) in the process of dust formation, phthalates in the dust boundary layer on the source surface reach the steady-state faster and the steady-state dust-phase concentration (value of 35,843 mu g/g) is 10 times higher compared to a non-source surface (value of 3202 mu g/g); (2) the particle size has an effect on the concentration of phthalates in the dust. Specifically, the dust-phase concentration of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate increases with the increase in particle size on both source and non-source surfaces; (3) gas and particle-phase transfers have different influences on the dust-phase concentration of phthalates on different surfaces; and (4) cleaning activities can effectively reduce the indoor phthalate concentration.
展开▼
