Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) from Vehicle Emission in the Vegetation of Highway Roadside in Johor, Malaysia

Abstract

Incomplete combustion of organic and fossil fuel produced a mixture of hazardous air pollutants including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Abundance of PAHs occurrence in the atmosphere can be accumulated into vegetation. This research measures the concentration of PAHs collected in 8 selected species of plants to study the different composition of PAHs in different species of plant leaves to discover the ability of plants to absorb PAHs from the atmosphere. The study is concentrated on 3 toll station along PLUS' North-South Expressway in Johor for 6 months. Samples were extracted with ultrasonic agitation in dichloromethane and fractionated according to polarity before submitted to gas chromatography - mass spectrometry analysis to determine the concentration of PAHs. From the series of experiments, it shows that the plant leaves samples from highway roadside air contains various types of PAHs. There are also presence of PAHs of car exhaust characteristics such as phenanthrene, fluorene, and pyrene. Plant leaves have the ability to absorb the organic pollutant to facilitate the removal or reduce the pollutants from the atmosphere