Statistical assessment and modeling of benzene level in atmosphere in Timiş County, Romania

Bărbulescu, Alina; Barbeș, Lucica

doi:10.1007/s13762-020-02951-2

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 51 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The computed return levels for different return periods (2,3,4,6,12, 24 months for the monthly series and 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 days for the daily series) and are presented in Table 4, columns 5-10. All are above the maximum admissible levels established by legislation.…”

Section: Models For the Benzene And Tvoc Seriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Total volatile organic compounds, expressed as non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), including aromatic hydrocarbons (benzene, toluene, ethyl-benzene, and ortho-, meta-, and para-xylene, etc.) with moderate volatility, are found in different concentrations in urban and suburban regions [5][6][7][8][9][10], shoreline areas [11], and industrial zones [12][13][14][15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Romania, special attention is paid to aligning with the EU Directive on air quality. Therefore, the study of atmospheric pollution (as a first step in taking measures to diminish it based on informed insight) and its impact on population health has become a topic of interest for scientists [6][7][8][9][48][49][50][51]. This research's aim is twofold: (1) to assess VOC pollution levels from the secondbiggest refinery in Romania and (2) to evaluate the noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic risks of benzene and TVOC exposure to the workers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Assessing Benzene and TVOC Pollution and the Carcinogenic and Noncarcinogenic Risks to Workers in an Industrial Plant in Southeastern Romania

Barbeş,

Bărbulescu,

Barbeș

2024

Toxics

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The article aims to analyze the pollution with Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) emitted from the biggest refinery in Romania, using the daily and monthly series registered for two years in two sites on the industrial platform, and the carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic risks for workers at the industrial plant. Since the values of the basic statistics (minimum, maximum, and average) and outliers indicate that most recorded values exceed the maximum admissible limits established by law, the Peaks Over Threshold (POT) method was utilized to model the maximum values of the series and determine the return levels for benzene and total VOC (TVOC). Given the high values obtained for relatively short return periods, indicating potential danger for the workers, we assessed the noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic risks to benzene and TVOC exposure by computing the hazard index (HI) and lifetime cancer risk (LCR). The results indicate that 43.75% of the HI values are above 1, indicating a relatively high noncarcinogenic risk for different categories of workers. LRC indicates a high LRC for 93.75% of the workers in all considered categories exposed to TVOC.

show abstract

Section: Models For the Benzene And Tvoc Seriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Assessing Benzene and TVOC Pollution and the Carcinogenic and Noncarcinogenic Risks to Workers in an Industrial Plant in Southeastern Romania

Barbeş,

Bărbulescu,

Barbeș

2024

Toxics

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In Romania, there are very few recent articles regarding the benzene outdoor levels in urban areas. When using the syntax “air pollution-benzene–Romania” for searching the Clarivate Web of Science database from 2015 to 2023, 10 articles were found, and only 3 present the situation of outdoor concentrations of various pollutants including benzene in several Romanian cities, i.e., Timisoara [ 16 ], Arad [ 17 ], and Ploieşti [ 18 ]. None of them analyzed the evolution of benzene after 2019, including the lockdown period, and no health impact assessment was found.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Three-Year Analysis of Toxic Benzene Levels and Associated Impact in Ploieşti City, Romania

Sanda,

Dunea,

Iordache

et al. 2023

Toxics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study examines the levels of benzene and the potential health impact during three years of continuous monitoring (2019–2021), including the COVID-lockdown period from 2020 in a city that is an important Romanian center for petroleum refining and associated product manufacturing. The dataset contains benzene, toluene, NOx, PM10 concentrations, and meteorological factors monitored by six automatic stations from the national network of which four are in the city and two outside. Special attention was given to the benzene dynamics to establish patterns related to the health impact and leukemia. An assessment of the exposure was performed using EPA’s ExpoFIRST v. 2.0 for computing the inhalation Average Daily Dose (ADD) and Lifetime Average Daily Dose (LADD). The health impact was estimated based on several indicators such as lifetime cancer risk (LCR), Hazard Quotient (HQ), Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY), and Environmental burden of disease (EBD). Overall, the annual average of all stations was almost similar between years i.e., 3.46 in 2019, 3.41 in 2020, and 3.63 µg/m3 in 2021, respectively. The average of all stations during the lockdown period was 2.67 µg/m3, which was lower than the multiannual average of the 2019–2021 period, i.e., 3.5 µg/m3. Significant correlations were present between benzene and other pollutants such as NOx (r = 0.57), PM10 fraction (r = 0.70), and toluene (r = 0.69), and benzene and temperature (r = −0.46), humidity (r = 0.28), and wind speed (r = −0.34). Regarding the ADD, in all scenarios, the most affected age categories are small children, despite a lower outdoor exposure time. From birth to <70 years, the ADD varied depending on the exposure scenario resulting in 3.27 × 10−4, 5.6 × 10−4, and 4.04 × 104 mg/kg-day, and 3.95 × 10−4, 10.6 × 10−4, and 6.76 × 10−4 mg/kg-day for the LADD, respectively. The Integrated Lifetime Cancer Risk (ILTCR) values were 14.1 × 10−5 in winter, 9.04 × 10−5 in spring, 8.74 × 10−5 in summer, and 10.6 × 10−4 in autumn. The ILTCR annual averages were 1.08 × 10−4 (2019), 1.07 × 10−4 (2020), 1.04 × 10−4 (2021), and 1.06 × 10−4 for the entire period. The resulting ILTCR values point out very risky conditions, with the annual averages reaching the definite cancer risk category. The corresponding burden based on the DALY’s loss due to leukemia in Ploieşti was estimated at 0.291 (2 μg/m3 benzene), 0.509 (3.5 μg/m3 benzene), 0.582 (4 μg/m3 benzene), and 0.873 DALYs per 100,000 inhabitants (6 μg/m3 benzene), respectively. The current study provides useful insights for a better understanding of the exposure levels to benzene and associated health impact in Ploieşti despite the limitations determined by the data hiatus and incomplete or missing information regarding the health impact.

show abstract

Investigation of VOC Series Collected in a Refinery and Their Classification Based on Statistical Features

Bărbulescu,

Barbeş,

Barbeş

et al. 2024

Applied Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the context of the increased pollution from different sources and its significant negative effect on the population’s health and environment, the article presents a comprehensive analysis of the data series formed by the concentrations of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) collected in three zones—storage areas in the reservoir park—of a refinery complex in Romania during the maintenance period. Statistical analyses, including parametric and nonparametric tests, were performed to assess the correlation between the studied series and to group them based on some common features. The series were clustered using the raw data, and the series features were extracted after the statistical analysis. The results indicate that the series are not correlated and do not follow the same distribution even though the study zone is not large. The sites’ classification based on statistical features is shown to be more relevant from the viewpoint of the emissions level than that provided using the raw series. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) indicates that the features with the highest contribution on the first two components are maximum, standard deviation, autocorrelation, and partial autocorrelation for Zone 1; average, maximum, minimum, and partial autocorrelation for Zone 2; and skewness, average, maximum, and standard deviation for Zone 3. The study’s novelty is two-fold. First, it provides the results of the study performed during the maintenance period of the storage tanks, which was insufficiently investigated in the literature. Secondly, since complete data series are not generally available to the large public, clustering them based on their features provides a clear image of pollution levels and the sites where actions should be taken to reduce it. This investigation offers essential insights that can serve as a background for developing effective air pollutant monitoring strategies and mitigation measures by understanding the emission patterns and identifying the factors that influence VOC levels during the maintenance of storage tanks for highly volatile petroleum products.

show abstract

Statistical assessment and modeling of benzene level in atmosphere in Timiş County, Romania

Cited by 5 publications

References 51 publications

Assessing Benzene and TVOC Pollution and the Carcinogenic and Noncarcinogenic Risks to Workers in an Industrial Plant in Southeastern Romania

Assessing Benzene and TVOC Pollution and the Carcinogenic and Noncarcinogenic Risks to Workers in an Industrial Plant in Southeastern Romania

A Three-Year Analysis of Toxic Benzene Levels and Associated Impact in Ploieşti City, Romania

Investigation of VOC Series Collected in a Refinery and Their Classification Based on Statistical Features

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About