Atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) at two sites, in Bursa, Turkey: Determination of concentrations, gas–particle partitioning, sources, and health risk

Abstract

This study investigated the concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) using particle and gas-phase air samples collected in the Ovaakca and Cumalikizik region of Bursa, between May and September 2017. The concentration of Σ16PAH measured in the gas phase, for Ovaakca and Cumalikizik, were 5.32 ± 1.98 and 4.91 ± 3.41 ng m−3, respectively; and for the particle phase, 0.81 ± 0.56 and 1.84 ± 1.82 ng m−3, respectively. The coefficient of gas-particle partitioning was related to the excessive cooled vapor pressure. The determined slope values were − 0.319 (Ovaakca) and − 0.505 (Cumalikizik), which showed the strong effect of organic carbon absorption and the distance to the equilibrium. These experimental values were compared with the results obtained using the octanol/air and Dual partition models, and Dual partition model showed more accurate values than the octanol/air model. The relations between temperature and concentration in the gas phase of PAHs were evaluated using the Clausius–Clapeyron equation. The results indicated the influence of long-range transport of the atmospheric concentrations of PAHs at the regions. Diagnostic ratio analysis showed that biomass burning, coal combustion, and vehicular emissions contributed greatly to the atmospheric PAHs in the regions. In principal component analysis analysis, wood-burning was found to be the predominant parameter in addition to PAH sources determined with diagnostic ratios. In this study, the lifetime risk of lung cancer was calculated according to the mean and max BaP-TEQ values. When calculated according to the average values, while both regions were acceptable risk levels (Ovaakca: 2.6 × 10−6 and Cumalikizik: 8.6 × 10−6), at low-risk level was determined according to max BaP-TEQ values only in the Cumalikizik region (1.93 × 10−5).