Abstract
This study presents the concentrations of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) listed as priority pollutants by United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), in 98 sludges from 54 industrial wastewater treatment facilities of South Korea. The mean concentrations of Σ16PAHs were ranged from 32.5 μg/kg-dw to 1189.3 μg/kg-dw by industries, and the highest content was found in the petrochemical industry, followed by chemical, clothing manufacturing and dying, pulp and papermaking, secondary wastewater treatment, and food/beverage producing industries. Comparisons to the EU and Danish standards of Σ16PAHs in sewage sludge for land application showed only two samples (one from petrochemical, and the other from chemical industry) exceeded the limits. ANOVA test with PAH concentrations as variables revealed no statistically significant influences by industrial types and sampling time (i.e., seasonal variations). Pearson correlations between individual PAHs showed strong relationships (r>0.7) among 4-ring PAHs. Concentrations of acenaphthylene, anthracene, fluoranthene, benzo(a)anthracene, benzo(f)fluoranthene, benzo(k)fluoranthene, benzo(a)pyrene presented strong correlations to Σ16PAHs. Principal component analysis discriminated entire samples into three groups by two principal components (PC1 and PC2) with 70% of data variations, in which industrial types were not of importance, but a dominance of certain PAHs. Samples in group-I, which is high PC1 and low PC2, were characterized by a dominance of 2-ring PAHs, and in group-II, PC1 and PC2 showed a linear relation, was dominant 4-ring PAHs. Group-III with low PC1 and high PC2 includes 17 samples showing a noticeably high contribution of 3-ring PAHs to Σ16PAHs. This study provides concentrations of PAHs in industrial sludges collected from a wide variety of sources (six industrial types) and two seasons of sampling events, and the comparison of Σ16PAHs with other studies are also discussed.
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