Abstract
Automobile emissions have caused a major hydrocarbon pollution problem in the ambient air of many cities around the world. This study was conducted to measure the pollution status of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in some urban residential areas in Seoul, Korea. A total of 20 VOCs (11 aromatic and 9 chlorinated species) were identified at 4 urban residential sites in Seoul, Korea from February 2009 to July 2009. Comparison of total VOC (TVOC) concentration data indicated the dominance of the aromatic species with the maximum (72.2 ppbC) at Jong Ro (JR) and the minimum at Yang Jae (33.4 ppbC). The peak concentration of TVOC occurred during spring at all sites with an exception at Gang Seo (GS), where it was recorded during winter. The distribution of individual VOCs at the study sites was characterized by high toluene concentration. A strong correlation of benzene was also observed with other VOCs and criteria pollutants at all sites (except YJ). The overall results of this study suggest that vehicular emissions have greatly contributed to the increase in VOC pollution at all the study sites.
Highlights
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are an important group of air pollutants to be monitored in the ambient air, because of their versatile roles in environmental chemistry and the associated environmental impacts on the ecological systems
1 Field Site and Sampling In this study, the measurements of VOC in ambient air and the relevant environmental parameters were undertaken at four residential locations in Seoul which include Jong Ro (JR), Gwang Jin (GJ), Gang Seo (GS), and Yang Jae (YJ) (Fig. 1)
Among the BTEX components, toluene consistently showed the maximum at all the sites with the highest mean value at JR (7.04 ppb), while the lowest value was found from 1,2-dichlorethane at GJ (0.03 ppb)
Summary
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are an important group of air pollutants to be monitored in the ambient air, because of their versatile roles in environmental chemistry and the associated environmental impacts on the ecological systems. Anthropogenic sources include vehicle exhaust, gasoline evaporation, natural gas, and combustion of fossil fuels (Nguyen et al, 2009; Wang and Zhao, 2008). Emissions of aromatic hydrocarbons come from diesel and gasoline engine vehicles (Abrantes et al, 2004; Tavares et al, 2004; Broderick and Marname, 2002). The use of unleaded gasoline and diesel fuel has increased worldwide due to increases in traffic volume. As these fuels contain a large fraction of aromatic hydrocarbons, their monitoring in urban areas has become one of the prior tasks in air quality management
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