Abstract
The objective of this study was to analyse chemical substances in the smoke emitted by burning incense, and to estimate their concentrations in air when the incense was burned indoors. The smoke generated when 12 different types of incense were burned was collected into air sampling bags, and the chemical substances in each bag were analysed. The emission rates for the different chemical substances (μg/g•incense and μg/min) were calculated, and the concentrations of the chemicals in indoor air were estimated on the basis of the data. The forty-eight chemical substances containing acetaldehyde, isoprene, acetic acid, acrolein and benzene were mainly detected, and there was a sample in which the emission rate of organic acid accounts for 67 percent of all chemicals.
In addition, the emission rates (μg/min) of the chemical substance emitted from the incense sticks in which the quantity of smoke differs was compared.
This analysis indicated that the emission rates of acetic acid and formaldehyde from incense that emitted a less quantity of smoke were low, and a emission rate of the total of 48 chemicals was 25% compared with the incense stick with a regular quantity of smoke. Finally, the concentration of chemical substances in indoor air after burning 9 types of incense for 1 hour each was estimated. The concentrations of benzene, 1,3-butadiene and acetaldehyde were in the range of 11-77 μg/m3, 4.8-14 μg/m3 and 22-160 μg/m3, respectively. Furthermore, the acetaldehyde emission from 6 incense samples exceeded the guideline value for indoor air established by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan.
