Abstract
The present work has aimed to determine the 16 US EPA priority PAH atmospheric particulate matter levels present in three sites around Salvador, Bahia: (i) Lapa bus station, strongly impacted by heavy-duty diesel vehicles; (ii) Aratu harbor, impacted by an intense movement of goods, and (iii) Bananeira village on Maré Island, a non vehicle-influenced site with activities such as handcraft work and fisheries. Results indicated that BbF (0.130-6.85 ng m-3) is the PAH with highest concentration in samples from Aratu harbor and Bananeira and CRY (0.075-6.85 ng m-3) presented higher concentrations at Lapa station. PAH sources from studied sites were mainly of anthropogenic origin such as gasoline-fueled light-duty vehicles and diesel-fueled heavy-duty vehicles, discharges in the port, diesel burning from ships, dust ressuspension, indoor soot from cooking, and coal and wood combustion for energy production.
Highlights
Particulate matter plays a significant role in the chemistry of the atmosphere and in human health
Among the several organic and inorganic species which are associated with diesel exhaust particles, including monoand poly-functional organic compounds resulting from gas-to-particle conversion mechanisms, hydrocarbons with high molar mass, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and their oxy- and nitro-derivatives, are of particular interest.[4,5,7,8,9]
Exhausts from diesel and gasoline vehicles play an important role in PAH emissions
Summary
Particulate matter plays a significant role in the chemistry of the atmosphere and in human health. Studies establishing their adverse effects on human health.[4,5,6] Among the several organic and inorganic species which are associated with diesel exhaust particles, including monoand poly-functional organic compounds resulting from gas-to-particle conversion mechanisms, hydrocarbons with high molar mass, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and their oxy- and nitro-derivatives, are of particular interest.[4,5,7,8,9] PAH are ubiquitous and abundant pollutants that are emitted from several natural and/or anthropogenic sources and may be present in the atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere.[10,11,12,13,14] The widespread occurrence of PAH is largely due to their formation and emission during incomplete combustion of petrogenic materials such as oil and coal as well as non-petrogenic sources such as wood burning[3,15,16,17,18,19] as well as biomass burning due to agricultural practices.[20] In urban areas, exhausts from diesel and gasoline vehicles play an important role in PAH emissions. Emissions of PAH are strongly influenced by heavy-duty diesel vehicles.[21]
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