Traffic contribution to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in road dust: A source apportionment analysis under different antecedent dry-weather periods

Abstract

Road dust (RD) and its adsorbed pollutants have been regarded as a leading source of diffuse stormwater pollution. Therefore, a source-oriented mitigation strategy of pollutants in RD is important for an integrated stormwater management. In this study, a total of 66 RD samples were collected from 22 asphalt roads with five traffic load categories under different antecedent dry-weather periods (ADPs) in the city of Dresden, Germany. The surface loads (0.1–30.91 μg m−2) and solid-phase concentrations (0.95–27.83 μg g−1) of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in RD were determined. The results show that the Σ16PAHs contents decreased with increasing distance from the city center to the city border. One-way ANOVA indicated that surface load was significantly dominated by ADPs and solid-phase concentration was statistically traffic-load dependent. According to the positive matrix factorization (PMF) receptor model, gasoline- and diesel-powered engine emissions always accounted for the highest proportions of total PAH contents. However, with an increasing ADP, the PAHs contents attributed to the incineration and tire debris became evident. The source-specific risks posed by PAHs were further estimated by the incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) analysis. Traffic contributed to the majority of the carcinogenic substances. Moreover, the hazard quotient (HQ) and mean hazard quotient (MHQ) for the ecological risk assessment suggest that PAHs in RD had a 21% probability of being toxic to benthic organisms and aquatic environments. CapsuleΣ16PAH content decreased with an increasing distance from the city center to border, and an increasing number of PAH sources was identified with an increasing residual time.