Measurement of PAHs in carbon black used in Iranian tyre manufacturing plants

Abstract

Abstract Background: There are thousands of workers in Iran exposed to carbon black used in tyre manufacturing plants, regularly. This compound has been shown to be carcinogenic as there are several PAHs contaminating the carbon black. Objective: To measure PAHs in carbon black used in Iran industries and also comparing the imported carbon black with domestic ones marked as A & B, respectively. Methods: Through a cross-sectional study, samples from different kinds of carbon blacks (imported and domestic ones) were obtained. PAH extraction from these samples was carried out using micro Soxlet. Six different kinds of PAHs including benzo (a) pyrene, dibenzo (a, h) antracen, phenaterene, fluoranthene, chrysene and anthracene were further analyzed by GC-FID method. Finding: Both imported and domestic types of carbon blacks were contaminated with all six kinds of PAHs, unexceptionally. However, the total concentration of six PAHs was different among study samples (P