Abstract
In this study, concentrations, sources, and ecological risk of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in 41 surface water samples collected from Wuhai and Lingwu sections of the Yellow River were investigated. The results showed that total PAH concentrations varied from 27.5 ng/L to 234 ng/L and from 135 ng/L to 265 ng/L in surface water of Wuhai and Lingwu sections, respectively. Source identification was performed by using principal component and multiple linear regression analysis. PAHs in Wuhai section of the Yellow River were mainly from coal combustion (35%) and vehicle exhausts (34%). Ecological risk of PAHs to aquatic organisms was assessed by applying the probabilistic risk assessment method. The results showed that the probabilities of exceeding the chronic toxicity for 5% of the species were 28% and 32% for PAHs in surface water from Wuhai and Lingwu sections, respectively. It has been demonstrated that there is an urgent need for environmental managers to take measures to reduce the ecological risk of PAHs in the aquatic environment in both Wuhai and Lingwu sections of the Yellow River.
Highlights
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are compounds consisting of two or more fused rings that have raised more concerns due to their persistent property and toxicity featured by considerably high direct-acting mutagenicity and carcinogenicity [1]
We aimed to investigate the concentrations, sources, and ecological risk of PAHs in surface water of Wuhai and Lingwu sections of the Yellow River in Journal of Chemistry
Total concentrations of PAHs ranged from 27.5 ng/L (WS16) to 233 ng/L (WS19) in the Wuhai section of the Yellow River with a mean concentration of 162 ng/L, while PAH concentrations range from 135 ng/L (LS10) to 265 ng/L (LS6) in the Lingwu section with a mean concentration of 197 ng/L
Summary
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are compounds consisting of two or more fused rings that have raised more concerns due to their persistent property and toxicity featured by considerably high direct-acting mutagenicity and carcinogenicity [1]. PAHs find their way into the environment through natural sources such as volcanoes, forest fire, and biosynthetic process. It could be emitted from diverse anthropogenic sources such as vehicle exhausts; power plants; chemical, coke, and oil-shale industries; and urban sewage [2, 3]. Erefore, the occurrence of PAHs in surface water nearby the coal mining area has attracted lots of attention recently [5, 9, 12, 13]. Studies on concentrations, sources, and ecological risk of PAHs in surface water of rivers located in or nearby the coal mining area are generally limited at present. Hao et al [12] investigated the concentrations and sources of PAHs in surface water of Fuyang River nearby the Fengfeng coal mining area. Huang et al [5] reported that the average concentration of 16 PAHs was 427 ng/L in surface water of rivers located in Heshan coal district in Guangxi
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