"Exposure Assessment of Benzene in Japan" 

Haruyuki Higashino, Hiroshi Yoshikado, Atsushi Takai

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology

The Forth SETAC World Congress (Portland, Oregon, United States 2004/11/16)

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Abstract

Benzene is a volatile aromatic hydrocarbon which is a commodity chemical used primarily in the production of plastics and petrochemical products such as solvents and gasoline. It is also known as a human carcinogen. Assessment of exposure to benzene has been carried out in Japan, taking into account the spatial distributions of its concentration and of the population by using two different types of models we have developed. 

The AIST-ADMER (AIST’s Atmospheric Dispersion Model for Exposure and Risk assessment) has been applied to estimate the regional distribution of benzene concentration with a horizontal resolution of 5km throughout Japan. The METI-LIS (METI’s Low-rise Industrial Source dispersion model) has been applied to estimate the detailed local concentrations in selected, highly polluted regions in which the monitored ambient concentration has exceeded the Japanese environmental quality standard (3ug/m3), where large point sources and heavily traveled roads are located. 

The PRTR emission data collected in 2002 were used for the models. Area sources for the ADMER were applied after converting them to grid emissions using by several grid statistical databases which include industrial activities, population density, and traffic amounts. The results show: (1) Emissions from mobile sources largely contributed in most of the regions of Japan, (2) Areas where stationary emissions dominated were very limited, and (3) Emissions not only from the nearest arterial roads but also from any kind of roads in the area contributed to high concentrations.

Keywords

benzene, exposure, simulation, PRTR, ADMER