Airborne Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Suspended Particulates from the Urban Atmosphere of Rijeka, Croatia

Abstract

Besides earlier occasional campaigns, the systematic measurements of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in total suspended particulates (TSP) started only in 2001, while in 2006 the analyses were switched to PAHs in PM10. The annual concentrations of PAHs are following the general declining trend with other combustion pollutants as SO2. Although PM10 formed approximately 44% of TSP for the 2006 year and multi-year periods (2001–2005 and 2007–2010), the fraction of PAHs in PM10 /TSP ratio was in the range between 17% for Phe to 80% to BbF + BkF (66% for BaP). The winter to summer ratio (W/S) of individual PAH concentration is almost doubled in TSP (range: 5.2 for Phe to 21.2 for BaP) relative to PM10 (range: 2.7 for Phe to 13.5 for BaP). PAHs profiles indicate diesel vehicles as principal sources of PAHs, with the occasional contribution of metal smelters and wood combustion in winter.