Source Apportionment of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Indoor Fine Dusts from Residential and Public Buildings in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

The sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in indoor fine dust from residential and public buildings in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria was investigated using source apportionment tools such as diagnostic/isomeric ratios, principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA). A total of twenty-seven indoor fine dusts comprising of twenty samples from residential building and seven samples from public buildings were collected from Port Harcourt. The PAHs in the dust samples were quantified by gas chromatograph equipped with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) after extraction by ultra-sonication with hexane/dichloromethane/acetone and cleaned up   on a silica gel/alumina column. The Σ16 PAH concentrations in the indoor fine dusts ranged from 3136 µg kg-1 to 44332 µg kg-1 for residential buildings and 2580 µg kg-1 to 15372 µg kg-1 for public buildings. The results of source apportionment indicated that the PAHs in the indoor fine dusts were from mixed sources pyrogenic sources (coal, wood, petroleum, biomass, and fossil fuel combustion) and petrogenic sources with significant contribution from pyrogenic sources.