Aerosol pollution of the Moscow megacity by polyaromatic hydrocarbons: Seasonal variability and toxicological risks

Abstract

Research on air pollution in large cities by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is one of the priority tasks for assessing air quality and environmental risks to public health. The chemical composition of aerosols sampled in spring (2018), 2019, and winter (2019–2020) at the Aerosol Complex of Moscow State University, located on the background territory of the Moscow Megacity, is analyzed. Sixteen priority PAH compounds were identified using gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, and high-performance liquid chromatography. The median value of the total concentration of the 16 PAHs (Σ16PAH) increases from the spring season (1.43 ng/m3) to the fall season (1.68 ng/m3) and then to the winter season (2.47 ng/m3). Based on the diagnostic relationships of PAHs, the dominant contribution of transport, industrial enterprises, and the heating system to the total emissions was determined. Pollution roses indicate the location of sources of maximum concentrations of low-, medium-, and high-molecular PAHs. Pollution episodes are distinguished: in the spring of 2018 under the influence of the transport of smoke plumes of agricultural fires and in the fall of 2019 as a result of petrogenic emissions and an increase in biomass burning in the residential sector around Moscow. In the winter and fall seasons, the highest values of carcinogenic (0.45 and 0.42) and mutagenic (0.58 and 0.55) equivalents for benzo(a)pyrene were recorded in comparison with the spring season (0.26 and 0.38). The lifetime risk of developing lung cancer, calculated from the data for three seasons, is 0.5 cases per one million people.