Use of the Relative Concentration To Evaluate a Multimedia Model for PAHs in the Absence of Emission Estimates

Abstract

With no confident emission information, a dynamic multimedia model (POPsME) was evaluated by comparing predicted and measured relative concentrations (defined as the ratio of concentration in a medium to that in soil) for 12 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) (phenanthrene, anthracene, fluoranthene, pyrene, chrysene, benz[a]anthracene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, benzo[a]pyrene, dibenz[a,h]anthracene, benzo[g,h,i]perylene, and indeno[1,2,3-c,d]pyrene). Field monitoring for multimedia (air particulates, water (dissolved phase and suspended solids), soil, sediment, and leaves of Pinus koraiensis and Prunus serrulata) was conducted seasonally over 1 yr from August 1999 to July 2000 at seven sites in Seoul and neighboring areas (150 km × 150 km) in Korea. The model was calibrated using the monitoring data of four PAHs (phenanthrene, pyrene, benzo[a]pyrene, and benzo[g,h,i]perylene) and tested with the remaining eight PAHs. For C suspended solids/C soil and C sediment/C soil (Ci , concentration (mol/m3) in medium i), the model prediction changed with octanol−water partition coefficient (K ow) from underestimation to overestimation, revealing a limitation to the use of sorption equilibrium assumption and/or K ow for the description of sorption. Nonetheless, the model prediction generally agreed with the measured within a factor of 10 for all the monitored media. The relative concentration was shown to be a useful means to evaluate and improve the model.

Development and Evaluation of an aquatic ecological risk assessment system (KORECORisk) for the management of industrial complexes

“…Chemical equilibrium was assumed among subcompartments within a compartment. More details of the processes and parameters are also presented elsewhere (Lee et al 2004). Because a mass balance equation holds for each compartment in each cell, a total of N X (number of cells) equations is solved for the whole model domain.…”

Phenanthrene decreases neutrophil function by disrupting intracellular redox balance

“…Phenanthrene is a highly lipophilic compound, with logaritmic octanol-water partition coefficient (logK ow) of 4.76 (Lee et al, 2004) and huge affinity for hydrophobic environments, such as lipid bilayers. Indeed, phenanthrene pointedly affected the membrane integrity of human placenta cells in synergism with the lipid peroxidation promoting agent, copper (II) ions (Peters et al, 2007).…”

Dynamic modeling of chemical fate and transport in multimedia environments at watershed scale—I: Theoretical considerations and model implementation

“…Comparisons of predicted and observed time trends or spatial patterns in terms of normalized concentrations, rather than absolute values, were conducted in this study to determine if the spatial and temporal variations in chemical distribution were well captured by the model even if the emission rates were inaccurate (Sweetman et al, 2002;Lee et al, 2004). The model was evaluated using trichloroethylene (TCE) as a test agent subjected to the field conditions in the Connecticut River Basin.…”