Coking wastewater treatment plant as a sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediments and ecological risk assessment

Jundong Chen,Chaohai Wei,Jianbo Liao

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-64835-2

Abstract

The spatial and temporal distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was investigated in sediments of Maba River, a major tributary of Beijiang River (South China). A total of 13 samples from Maba River and its tributary, Meihua River, were analyzed for 16 PAHs. The total concentration of 16 PAHs (ΣPAH) in high and low water period ranged between 47.61 to 25480.98 ng g−1, with a mean concentration of 4382.98 ng g−1, and 60.30 to 15956.62 ng g−1 with a mean concentration of 3664.32 ng g−1, respectively. Three-ring and four-ring PAHs were the dominant species. It was concluded that a pattern of pyrolytic input as a major source of PAHs in sediments through the molecular ratio method for the source identification, such as HMW/LMW PAHs, Flu/(Flu+Pyr), IcdP/(IcdP+BghiP) and BaA/(BaA+Chr). It is suggested that the pollution emission from the iron and steel plant might be the most important sources of PAHs into Maba River water system. The threat of PAHs contamination to biota of the river was assessed using effect range low (ERL) and effect range median (ERM) values, which suggested that PAHs in Maba River and its tributary had already caused ecological risks.

Highlights

The spatial and temporal distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was investigated in sediments of Maba River, a major tributary of Beijiang River (South China)
There’s one point which needs attention that the median concentration of ΣPAHs was much lower than the mean both in the high and low water period, which indicated that some sites contained relatively higher concentrations
This paper provided data on the spatial, temporal distributions and sources analysis of PAHs in sediments from Maba River and its tributary (Meihua River)

Summary

Introduction

The spatial and temporal distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was investigated in sediments of Maba River, a major tributary of Beijiang River (South China). Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are an important class of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) widely distributed in environment, including soils, atmosphere, water body and sediments[1,2]. The Maba River plays an important role in the enrichment and migration of pollutants in its basin: on the one hand, it receives the pollutants from the concentrated source (the mine in the upstream area, the companies, such as Shaoguan Steel Plant and Shaoguan Smeltery) and the scattered source (the living area and the agricultural belt on both sides of Maba River); on the other hand, it become a pollutions-source of its final influx, Beijiang River, the main source of drinking water in northern Guangdong province

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Results

Conclusion