Exposure analysis of accidental release of mercury from compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) D.A. Sarigiannis a, b, ⁎, S.P. Karakitsios a , M.P. Antonakopoulou a , A. Gotti b a Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Chemical Engineering, Environmental Engineering Laboratory, University Campus, Building D, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece b Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CE.R.T.H.), Thessaloniki 57001, Greece HIGHLIGHTS ► The critical period for intake covers the first 4 h after the CFL breaks. ► The room air temperature affects significantly the intake rate. ► Potential exposure and uptake are significantly higher for infants/kids due to specific behavior. ► Simple risk reduction measures (if followed in the right order) can minimize the potential health risk. abstract article info Article history: Received 2 April 2012 Received in revised form 10 July 2012 Accepted 10 July 2012 Available online xxxx Keywords: Mercury CFLs Computational platform Exposure modeling Indoor modeling Mercury release after breakage of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) has recently become an issue of public health concern, especially in the case of early life infants. Preliminary, screening type calculations have indi- cated that there is potential for increased intake of mercury vapor by inhalation after breakage of a CFL. Several experimental and computational studies have shown that, when modeling the breakage of a CFL, the room space must be segregated into different zones, according to the potential of mercury vapor to accumu- late in them after accidental release. In this study, a detailed two-zone model that captures the physicochem- ical processes that govern mercury vapor formation and dispersion in the indoor environment was developed. The mercury fate model was coupled to a population exposure model that accounts for age and gender-related differences in time–activity patterns, as well as country differences in body weight and age distribution. The parameters above are used to determine the intake through inhalation (gas phase and par- ticles) and non-dietary ingestion (settled dust) for each age, gender group and ethnicity. Results showed that the critical period for intake covers the first 4 h after the CFL breaks and that room air temperature significantly affects the intake rate. Indoor air concentration of mercury vapor may exceed tox- icological thresholds of concern such as the acute Reference Exposure Limit (REL) for mercury vapor set by the Environmental Protection Agency of California. Ingestion intake through hand-to-mouth behavior is sig- nificant for infants and toddlers, counting for about 20% of the overall intake. Simple risk reduction measures including increased indoor ventilation followed by careful clean-up of the accident site, may limit dramatical- ly the estimated health risk. © 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. 1. Introduction Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) were introduced in the global market in response to the need to reduce energy consumption within the wider framework of rational energy use and minimizing carbon dioxide emissions (Parsons, 2006). The constantly increasing domes- tic use of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) is promoted by approxi- mately 75% reduction in energy usage and 10-fold increase in lifetime relative to incandescent bulbs. As a result, their use is highly recommended as a replacement option for incandescent bulbs by many federal and local government agencies (Johnson et al., 2008). However, an important disadvantage of fluorescent lamps is that CFLs contain milligram (mg) quantities of mercury. Mercury is a human toxicant metal found throughout the environment. It is an es- sential component for a range of household devices and very funda- mental for the operation of fluorescent lights (Carpi and Chen, 2001). Because of the frequent use of mercury in household equipment there is a considerable amount of research concerning the relevance of the source to indoor air pollution. In order to decrease several en- vironmental issues caused by the use of mercury another chemical should substitute it. As this has not yet been found the amount of Science of the Total Environment 435–436 (2012) 306–315 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University Campus, Bldg. D, Rm. 201, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece. Tel.: +30 2310 994562. E-mail address: sarigiannis@auth.gr (D.A. Sarigiannis). 0048-9697/$ – see front matter © 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.07.026 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Science of the Total Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv