Spatial character of polychlorinated biphenyls from soil and respirable particulate matter in Taiyuan, China

Abstract

a b s t r a c tAs one of China's great metropolises, Taiyuan is affected by heavy chemical industry and manufacture of chemical products, and faces pollution from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the PCB concentrations in various environmental media in Taiyuan. We collected 15 soil samples, 34 respirable particulate matter (PM) samples (17 of PM 2.5 and 17 of PM 10 ) from urban areas of Taiyuan, and measured a total of 144 PCB congeners (including some coeluting PCB congeners). The total PCB concentrations were 51-4.7 Â 10 3 pg g À1 in soil, 27-1.4 Â 10 2 pg m À3 in PM 2.5 and 16-1.9 Â 10 2 pg m À3 in PM 10 . Of the PCB homologues, the dominant PCBs detected in the various media were all tri-CBs. Soil was relatively the most polluted media. Furthermore, principal-component analysis revealed that the major PCB source in Taiyuan may be associated with the main commercial PCB through longrange transmission. Toxic equivalency (TEQ) concentrations (based on ten dioxin-like PCBs) ranged from N.D. to 5.9 Â 10 À3 pg-WHO TEQ g À1 in soil, 2.0 Â 10 À4 -3.4 Â 10 À3 pg-WHO TEQ m À3 and 1.0 Â 10 À4 -1.2 Â 10 À3 pg-WHO TEQ m À3 in PM 2.5 and PM 10 , respectively. In previous studies, PCBs were not a severe component of contaminant in Taiyuan; however, this study suggested there is a potential threat of human exposure to PCBs for residents of Taiyuan.

Source identification and health risk assessment of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in the topsoils of typical petrochemical industrial area in Beijing, China

“…However, the concentrations of ∑PCBs in the study area were higher than those in some urban areas in China (Fu et al, 2009b;Jiang et al, 2011b;Wang et al, 2008), and also in different industrial areas worldwide. For instance, Motelay-Massei et al (2004) reported a concentration of 150 ng/g in soils collected in industrial areas in Notre-Dame de Gravenchon (France).…”

Polychlorinated biphenyls in respirable particulate matter from different industrial areas in northern China

“…Gas chromatographic separation was performed on a DB-5MS capillary column (30 m  0.25-mm internal diameter; 0.25-lm film thickness). Cleanup and analysis of PCBs followed the modified methods described in our previous report (Fu et al, 2009). …”

“…A procedural blank in parallel with each set of six samples was also run to further check for interference and cross-contamination. Method repeatability was examined by regular analysis of duplicate samples (Fu et al, 2009). …”

Organochlorine Pesticides and Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Atmospheric Particles Collected in Zagreb, Croatia

“…The mass concentrations of PCBs in air, expressed as the sum of six PCB indicator congeners, ranged from 10. for PCB-28 in PM2.5 and from 0.8 pg m -3 for PCB-180 to 10 pg m -3 for PCB-118 in PM10). 31 In Taiyuan, a total of 144 particle-bound PCB congeners were identified and the total PCB mass concentrations ranged from 27 to 149 pg m Table 3. ).…”

“…The studies of atmospheric particle-bound OC micropollutants are therefore focused not only on their mass concentrations in the air but also on their particle size distribution. [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] Non-volatile organochlorine compounds such as hepta-and octachlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans were found to be more or less completely particle-bound in the atmosphere and, on average, 92 % of these compounds were associated with particles with aerodynamic diameters smaller than 2.9 m. 27 Particles of that size also contained 60 to 95 % of particle-bound semivolatile less chlorinated congeners, for which significant fractions were present in the gas phase.…”