Abstract
PAHs are major constituents of creosote, and it has been suggested that their volatilization from treated wood could make a major contribution to the U.K. atmospheric emission inventories. This paper reports a study to elucidate the volatilization characteristics of selected PAHs from creosote-treated wood and to estimate the potential significance of this source to the U.K. atmospheric source inventory. Desorption kinetics from untreated and treated wood were measured at 4 and 30 °C for five PAHs (acenaphthene, fluorene, phenanthrene, anthracene, fluoranthene) using chambers in the laboratory. Rates of desorption followed first-order kinetics for all compounds and were higher at 30 than 4 °C. Mean ∑PAH fluxes varied from 2.57 ± 1.52 to 29.5 ± 6.1 mg/m2 treated wood/day at 4 and 30 °C, respectively. A prolonged study of the kinetics at 4 °C showed that the volatilization rate remained constant over about 7 weeks, after which >85% of the compounds still remained sorbed on the wood. Initial desorption rates...
Published Version
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