Abstract
Atmospheric deposition, including dry and wet deposition, is a primary pathway for the transfer of POPs to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In this study (that is, the part I.), the characteristics of PCDD/Fs and PCBs in the ambient air of Tainan City were simulated by the PM_(10) versus PCDD/Fs concentration regression analysis, gas-particle partition modeling, and the simulation of dry deposition. Dry deposition fluxes are obtained from the combination of the PCDD/F and PCB concentrations, meteorological information, dry deposition velocities, and scavenging ratios. The dry deposition fluxes of PCDD/F-TEQ2005 increase with decreasing temperature, while increase with a higher degree of chlorine numbers on PCDD/F homologues. In this study (that is, the part I.), the average PCDD/F dry deposition fluxes in spring, summer, fall and winter were 69.3, 28.2, 129 and 246 pg WHO-TEQ/m^2-month during 2012, respectively. As for 2013, the average PCDD/F dry deposition fluxes in spring, summer, fall and winter were 67.0, 29.8, 102 and 377 pg WHO-TEQ/m^2-month, respectively. The average PCB dry deposition fluxes in spring, summer, fall and winter were 2.16, 1.99, 5.70 and 11.9 pg WHO-TEQ/m^2-month during 2012, respectively. As for 2013, the average PCB dry deposition fluxes in spring, summer, fall and winter were 2.11, 1.27, 4.49 and 8.88 pg WHO-TEQ/m^2-month, respectively. The minimum simulated value occurred in summer, while the maximum dry deposition fluxes, which were about 4-5 times higher than the minimum values, occurred in winter. The lower values observed in summer may be caused by the atmospheric diffusion of SVOCs and high rainfall intensity.
Highlights
Concentration levels of persistent organic pollutant (POPs) in different environmental matrices had become a global concern due to their environmental characteristics of persistence, bioaccumulation, toxicity and global dispersion.Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin (PCDD), polychlorinated dibenzofuran (PCDF) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) are semi-volatile compounds
In this study, the characteristics of PCDD/Fs and PCBs in the ambient air of Tainan City were simulated by the PM10 versus PCDD/Fs concentration regression analysis, gas-particle partition modeling, and the simulation of dry deposition
The results demonstrate that, during 2012 to 2013, dry deposition of PCDD/Fs and PCBs decreased with the ambient temperature increased, which is similar to previous studies (Shih et al, 2006; Wang et al, 2010; Huang, 2011a)
Summary
Concentration levels of persistent organic pollutant (POPs) in different environmental matrices had become a global concern due to their environmental characteristics of persistence, bioaccumulation, toxicity and global dispersion. Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin (PCDD), polychlorinated dibenzofuran (PCDF) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) are semi-volatile compounds. Both of PCDD/Fs and PCBs have high boiling points, high degree of chemical stability (Aristizábal et al, 2011; Wang et al, 2003). Two-third of the PCBs was used for various open applications where PCBs functioned either as softener, surfactant, flame retardant, Tseng et al, Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 14: 1950–1965, 2014 lubricator or dispersant in different materials and products (Berg et al, 1998; Kerst et al, 2003; Anderson et al, 2004; Heinzow et al, 2007). Since some pollution incidents broke out in Taiwan during 20 and 21 century, PCDD/Fs as well as PCBs became the most important issues owing to their fat-soluble characteristic which could put threat to human health (Lee et al, 1996a; Lee et al, 2009)
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