Characterization of PM10-Bound Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Associated Carcinogenic Risk in Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract

Concentrations of ambient particulate-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (pPAHs) were measured in PM10 samples collected at roadside, industrial and urban background sites in Bangkok between May 2013 and May 2014. The annual average PM10 concentrations were not significantly different between the roadside (56.4 ± 27.3 µg m−3) and industrial (51.0 ± 31.1 µg m−3) sites. The lowest annual mean PM10 was observed at the urban background site (39.8 ± 22.2 µg m−3). Seasonal variations of pPAHs were observed at the three sampling sites. The total pPAHs ranged between 1.09 and 13.10 ng m−3 (mean 4.85 ± 2.51 ng m−3), 1.49 and 9.39 ng m−3 (mean 3.84 ± 2.01 ng m−3) and 0.77 and 5.20 ng m−3 (mean 2.28 ± 1.16 ng m−3) at the roadside, industrial and urban background sites, respectively. The observed annual average benzo[a]pyrene concentrations were 0.47 ± 0.39 ng m−3, 0.35 ± 0.27 ng m−3 and 0.24 ± 0.19 ng m−3 at the roadside, industrial and urban background sites. Long-term carcinogenic health risk of inhalation exposure expressed as the toxicity equivalent to benzo[a]pyrene concentrations were calculated as 0.83, 0.72 and 0.39 ng m−3 at the industrial, roadside and urban background sites, respectively. The composition of pPAHs plays an important role in the carcinogenicity of a PAHs mixture.

Investigation of Indoor Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Rural Northeast China: Pollution Characteristics, Source Analysis, and Health Assessment

“…PAHs are a kind of Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) attached to particulate matter, which have a greater health impact on the human body [16]. Related epidemiological studies indicate that because of the toxicity, persistence, and bioaccumulation of PAHs [17], long-term or excessive human exposure to PAHs will lead to health diseases such as cancer [18,19], reproductive problems, and gene mutations [20,21]. In recent years, due to the continuous increasing emissions of PAHs in ambient air, large-scale populations are exposed to the dangers of PAHs emission toxicity [22,23].…”

Characteristics of Real-World Non-Exhaust Particulates from Vehicles

“…PAHs have been analyzed mainly by a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), an instrument to identify and quantify different compounds in a liquid mixture, and a GC/MS to characterize tire samples and PM in the atmosphere [16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. PAHs are organic compounds in which two or more benzene rings are connected [11].…”

Characteristics of Real-world Non-exhaust Particulates from Vehicles

“…PAHs have been analyzed mainly by a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and a GC/MS to investigate the characteristics of tire samples and PM in the atmosphere [16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. PAHs are organic compounds in which two or more benzene rings are connected [11].…”

“…PAHs are organic compounds in which two or more benzene rings are connected [11]. They are mainly adsorbed on gaseous or fine particulate matter [23] and are reported to be potentially toxic, carcinogenic, and mutagenic substances [20,24] which are very harmful to the human body [25]. Long-term and short-term extraction methods have been used to extract PAHs-containing compounds from the atmosphere for analysis [11,19,26,27].…”