Organophosphate esters (OPEs) in the air and dust of new vehicle cabins: Concentrations, sources and contributions

Vehicles cabin represents unique indoor environment characterized by its limited space and multiple interior materials. For the first time, OPEs levels in vehicles and OPEs content in cabin materials were measured, and the material contributions were also analyzed. Between May and July in 2023, air, dust and materials samples were collected from 32 new vehicles. The detection rates were as high as 71%-100 % in dust and 100 % in selected cabin materials. The median of & sum;OPEs in air-phase (both gas and particles) was significantly higher at 589.26 ng/m3 compared to those in other vehicle investigations. Material content analysis revealed that the top three were cushion textile, mat and lubricant, with & sum;OPEs ranging from 85.94 mu g/g to 1406.04 mu g/g, which were three orders of magnitude higher than those in toys. Chlorinated forms such as TCIPP and TDCIPP were predominant among all air, dust and material samples analyzed. Particle-phase OPEs provided statistic diversity on manufactures and seat materials. Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) analysis found that the combination of cushion textile, seat leather, and carpet substrate textile contributed significantly, accounting for 68 % of cabin OPEs.