10th International Aerosol Conference September 2 - September 7, 2018 America's Center Convention Complex St. Louis, Missouri, USA
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Exposure to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in PM10 at Urban Area of a Semi-Arid Region of India
AMIT MASIH, St. Andrew's College, Gorakhpur, India
Abstract Number: 1273 Working Group: Aerosol Exposure
Abstract Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are toxic air pollutants (TAPs) that have the potential to cause serious and adverse health effects and damage to the environment. These pollutants differ from other primary air pollutants such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, total suspended particulates (TSP) and respiratory suspended particulate matter (RSPM) in the respect that even at substantially lower concentrations; their health effects are carcinogenic in nature. Particulate matter from an urban residential site within Agra city (a semi-arid region) were collected using respirable dust samplers for a span of one year (2010-2011) in order to study the concentration and exposure profiles of PAHs. The samples were extracted with dichloromethane using an automated Soxhlet Extraction. The extracts were analyzed for 17 target Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs). The total PAH (TPAH) concentrations were 27.96 ± 2.3, 22.24 ± 2.1, and 34.38 ± 3.0 ng m-3, respectively, during summer, monsoon and winter seasons. The combined mean concentration of TPAH was 28.19 ngm-3 for all seasons. Benzo(b)fluoranthene, Benzo(g,h,i)perylene, Benzo(b)fluoranthene and Indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene were the chief PAHs found in the samples collected from this urban region. The average TPAH percentage based on the number of rings were 1% (2-ring), 2% (3-ring), 24% (4-ring), 48% (5- ring), and 25% (6-ring). Dibenz(a,h)anthracene contributed the highest carcinogenic exposure equivalent (4.09 ng m-3) followed by Benzo(a)pyrene (2.80 ng m-3), Benzo(b)fluoranthene (0.453 ng m-3) and Benzo(k)fluoranthene (0.338 ng m-3), accounting for approximately 50%, 35%, 6% and 4% of the total carcinogenicity of particulate PAH in this urban region, respectively.
Keywords: Particulate Matter, PAH, Carcinogenic Potencies, Semi Arid Region