Brominated flame retardants in a computer technical service: Indoor air gas phase, submicron (PM 1 ) and coarse (PM 10 ) particles, associated inhalation exposure, and settled dust Mesut Genisoglu a , Aysun Sofuoglu b , Perihan B. Kurt-Karakus c , Askin Birgul c , Sait C. Sofuoglu a, * a Izmir Institute of Technology, Dept. of Environmental Engineering, Urla, Turkey b Izmir Institute of Technology, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Urla, Turkey c Bursa Technical University, Dept. of Environmental Engineering, Bursa, Turkey highlights  Dominant PBDE and NBFRs in PM 1 , PM 10 , and settled dust are BDE-209, BEH-TEBP, BTBPE.  BFRs in PM 1 constitute ~50% of those in PM 10 in studied computer repair service.  BFRs measured with passive samplers higher than active sampling but similar to PM 10 .  Similar gaseous and PM 1 -associated BFR exposures at ~50% of PM 10 -associated levels.  The results point out that health risks for the employees may be considerable. article info Article history: Received 27 February 2019 Received in revised form 10 May 2019 Accepted 11 May 2019 Available online 16 May 2019 Handling Editor: Hyunook Kim Keywords: Polybrominated diphenyl ethers Novel flame retardants PM1 PM10 House dust Exposure abstract Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are found in multi-media indoors, therefore, may pose serious risks to human health. This study investigated the occurrence of BFRs in particulate matter (PM 1 and PM 10 ) and gas phase by active and passive sampling, and settled dust to estimate potential exposure in a computer technical service. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and their alternatives (novel BFRs, NBFRs) were studied. PM and gas phase were collected on glass fiber filters and polyurethane foam plugs, respectively, and analyzed with a GC/MS after extraction, clean-up, and concentration. Inhalation exposure of the staff was estimated based on the measured concentrations using Monte Carlo simulation. BDE-209 was the dominating PBDE congener in all media while bis(2-ethylhexyl)-3,4,5,6- tetrabromophthalate and 1,2-bis(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy)ethane were those of NBFRs. Submicron par- ticulate matter (PM 1 ) BFR levels constituted about one half of the PM 10 -associated concentrations, while average PM 10 mass concentration (69.9 mgm 3 ) was nine times that of PM 1 (7.73 mgm 3 ). Calculated log 10 dust-gas and PM-gas partitioning coefficients ranged from 5.03 to 2.10, 2.21 to 0.55, and 2.26 to 1.04 for settled dust, PM 10 , and PM 1 , respectively. The indoor/outdoor concentration ratios were >1 for all compounds indicating the strength of indoor sources in the service. The estimated po- tential inhalation exposures, for future chronic-toxic and carcinogenic risk assessments, indicated that the levels of gas-phase and PM 1 -associated exposures were similar at approximately one half of PM 10 - associated levels. Results of this study indicate that the occurrence of BFRs in all studied media should be taken into consideration for occupational health mitigation efforts. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Flame-retardant chemicals have been added to furniture foam and upholstery, mattresses, curtains, plastics, and electronic de- vices such as computers and televisions due to requirements of fire regulations (Ali et al., 2012). Most flame retardants are * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: cemilsofuoglu@iyte.edu.tr, saitcemil@iit.edu (S.C. Sofuoglu). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Chemosphere journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/chemosphere https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.05.077 0045-6535/© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Chemosphere 231 (2019) 216e224