Organic and elemental carbon bound to particulate matter in the air of printing office and beauty salon

The aim of this study was to determine the role of internal sources of emissions on the concentrations of total suspended particulate matter (TSP) and its sub-fraction, so-called respirable PM (PM₄; fraction of particles with particle size ≤ 4 μm) and to estimate to which extent those emissions participate in the formation of PM-bound elemental (EC) and organic (OC) carbon in two facilities - one beauty salon and one printing office located in Bytom (Upper Silesia, Poland). The average concentration of PM in the printing office and beauty salon during the 10-day measurement period was 10 and 4 (PM₄) and 8 and 3 (TSP) times greater than the average concentration of PM fractions recorded in the same period in the atmospheric air; it was on average: 204 μg/m³ (PM₄) and 319 μg/m³ (TSP) and 93 μg/m³ (PM₄) and 136 μg/m³ (TSP), respectively. OC concentrations determined in the printing office were 38 μg/m³ (PM₄) and 56 μg/m³ (TSP), and those referring to EC: 1.8 μg/m³ (PM₄) and 3.5 μg/m³ (TSP). In the beauty salon the average concentration of OC for PM₄ and TSP were 58 and 75 μg/m³, respectively and in case of EC - 3.1 and 4.7 μg/m³, respectively. The concentrations of OC and EC within the those facilities were approximately 1.7 (TSP-bound EC, beauty salon) to 4.7 (TSP-bound OC, printing office) times higher than the average atmospheric concentrations of those compounds measured in both PM fractions at the same time. In both facilities the main source of TSP- and PM₄-bound OC in the indoor air were the chemicals - solvents, varnishes, paints, etc.