Abstract
Among all hazardous air pollutants, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are more significant owing to their carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic properties. Many researchers worldwide have focused on determining the concentrations of PAHs in ambient air. However, the literature survey reveals that the seriousness of air pollution in Asia in terms of PAHs, compared to the rest of the world. Owing to the importance of PAHs in Asia, this paper reviews the concentrations of PAHs in Asia in recent years. For convenience, this paper describes the concentrations of PAHs in developed Asian countries reported during 2000-2011 as Part-I and in developing Asian countries as Part-II. The first section of this review provides a brief description of the properties, sources of PAHs and the health effects caused by their presence in the atmosphere. The ambient air PAH concentrations in both particle and vapor phases in developed Asian countries are then discussed. This study finds the ambient air concentrations of PAHs in developed Asian countries was higher than the Western countries but was lower than the developing Asian countries. The present review predicts the accurate toxicity due to the presence of PAHs in the atmosphere by calculating the Risk Weighted Concentration (RWC), regardless of the total amount of PAHs. The total data obtained during the literature survey is tabulated and presented as supplementary information to the readers.
Highlights
Environmental pollution is a major problem in the world in the 21st century due to urbanization and industrialization
Most research has been carried out on small polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) because of their availability. In another classification based on the number of fused rings, PAHs are classified as light PAHs and heavy PAHs
This paper reviewed the concentrations of PAHs in various cities of Asian countries since 2000
Summary
Environmental pollution is a major problem in the world in the 21st century due to urbanization and industrialization. Li et al (2009) reported the concentrations and seasonal variations of PAHs associated with PM2.5 in urban, suburban and rural ambient air monitoring sites in Atlanta during 2004. In Asian countries, many researchers have reported the concentrations of PAHs in ambient air. Based on a literature survey, it is clear that the major anthropogenic sources of atmospheric PAHs are engine exhaust (gasoline and diesel), industrial processes (aluminum), power generation, waste incineration, indoor straw combustion, domestic heating and natural sources, such as volcanic eruptions and forest fires.
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