Evaluation of ambient air concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Germany from 1990 to 1998

Abstract

All available polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon ( PAH ) concentration data in ambient air obtained over the past 10 years in Germany were evaluated to clarify whether it is justified to use benzo( a )pyrene ( BaP ) as a marker compound for the total PAH exposure. The data basis comprises annual mean concentrations from 1990 to 1998 supplied by the emission protection authorities of the federal states with additional information on the region, year and site of measurement. The data are very heterogeneous with respect to sample size, the number of individual PAHs analyzed, place of origin and year. Nine of 25 individual compounds with sufficient sample size ( 74 < N < 518 ) were submitted to an explorative descriptive analysis and multiple regression analysis. Six compounds were selected for factor analysis to evaluate whether associations can be related to one or several background determinants. The concentration data of BaA, BeP, BaP, DBA, BghiP, COR, BbF, BkF and INP are not normally distributed and demonstrate great variability. Location, East -West differences persisting after the German reunion and time characterize the distributive patterns, e.g., from 1991 to 1997, a significant decrease in BaP could be determined based on the data from North Rhine -Westphalia ( 1991, N = 51, median 1.6 ng / m 3 ; 1997, N = 45, median 0.7 ng / m 3 ; P 0.0001 ). The BaP concentrations in the new federal states in the East ( N = 80, median 2.2 ng / m 3 ) are about twice as high compared to the ones in the old federal states in the West ( N = 438, median 1.1 ng / m 3 ; P 0.0001 ). BaP measurements taken at sites characterized by traffic ( 1.8 ng / m 3 ), industrial ( 1.3 ng / m 3 ) or urban environment ( 1.3 ng / m 3 ) rank significantly higher compared to measurements taken at rural sites ( 0.92 ng / m 3 ; P 0.0001 ). Factor analysis of the intercorrelation matrix of BaA, BeP, BaP, DBA, BghiP and COR yields one factor to explain 92% of the variability of the six individual PAHs. BaP shows the highest factor loading. These results confirm the common practice to use BaP as marker compound for the PAH exposure in ambient air.

Particle-phase concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air of rural residential areas in southern Germany

“…In our study, DBA concentrations ranged from 0.02 to 0.95 ng/m 3 (median 0.20 ng/m 3 ), which is similar to the measured values observed in 1996 in the nearest village, Waldenbuch, in earlier studies (Marbach and Baumbach 1998) and comparatively higher than the values reported for rural areas (median 0.11 ng/m 3 ) of Germany during 1990–1998 (Fertmann et al 2002). They are, however, lower than that reported for Kurkimäki, Finland (mean 0.4 ng/m 3 ) during the winter of 2006 (Hellen et al 2008).…”

Residential environmental exposures and other characteristics associated with detectable PAH-DNA adducts in peripheral mononuclear cells in a population-based sample of adult females

“…There were 145 women with missing values for the resulting ambient BaP estimate. BaP was used as a proxy for total PAH exposure, since BaP is an accurate indicator of PAH exposure and carcinogenicity (Fertmann et al, 2002).…”

Catalytic Converters and PAH Pollution in Urban Areas

“…In particular, the abundance of BaP was reduced by 95%. A significant decrease of BaP was observed in air samples collected in the North Rhine Westphalia area: the median concentration was 1.6 ng m -3 in 1991 and 0.7 ngm -3 in 1997 (Fertmann, Tesseraux et al, 2002) Airborne PAHs, monitored regularly at rooftop height from 1991 to 1998 in London and Manchester (UK), exhibited a clear decreasing trend at both sites: 4.1 years was the half-life calculated for BaP (Prevedouros, Brorstrom-Lunden et al, 2004). More recently, another study updated to 2005 the PAH concentrations found in six UK locations (Meijer, Sweetman et al, 2008 (Menichini, Belladonna et al, 2006) showed a generalized decreasing trend in the last few years.…”

“…Possible explanations for the short time observed decline of PAH concentrations in European countries were seasonal factors as photo degradation (Schauer, Niessner et al, 2003), different contamination of air masses impacting monitored sites, specific local emissions, i.e. domestic heating (Prevedouros, Brorstrom-Lunden et al, 2004) and industrial activities (Fertmann, Tesseraux et al, 2002). Regulations designed to reduce emissions from mobile sources were identified as possible explanation for long time PAH pollution trends (Menichini, Belladonna et al, 2006), but no clear demonstration was offered by authors for these hypotheses.…”

“…Several studies carried out in Europe during the last few decades demonstrated a generalized temporal decrease in the concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in air (Fertmann, Tesseraux et al, 2002), in biological samples (Jacob, Grimmer et al, 1997) and in urban areas (Fertmann, Tesseraux et al, 2002;Schauer, Niessner et al, 2003;Menichini, Belladonna et al, 2006). Possible explanations for the short time observed decline of PAH concentrations in European countries were seasonal factors as photo degradation (Schauer, Niessner et al, 2003), different contamination of air masses impacting monitored sites, specific local emissions, i.e.…”