Volatile organic compounds in an urban airborne environment adjacent to a municipal incinerator, waste collection centre and sewage treatment plant

Abstract

The occurrence and temporal distribution of airborne volatile organic compounds (VOC) at nine closely grouped locations in a suburban environment on the edge of the coastline of the Southampton Water estuary, located on the coastline of central southern England, was studied over six monthly periods spanning 1996–1997. The sampling sites circumscribed a juxtaposed municipal incinerator, waste collection and processing centre and sewage treatment plant. Three sets of airborne samples being taken before and after the closure of the municipal incinerator. VOC with volatilities of low to medium polarity ranging broadly from those of n-butane to n-octadecane were the major focus of interest. Over 100 individual compounds were routinely found in localised samples taken during the period of study. The types and concentrations of VOC identified partly reflect the imprint of the various waste processing operations on atmospheric VOC within the local environment. The most abundant VOC classes consisted of aromatic, chlorinated and organosulphide compounds, with smaller proportions of alkanes, alkenes and cycloalkane compounds. Compounds produced by sewage-processing and waste management operations, including volatile organosulphides and various oxygenated compounds, may occasionally exceed olfactory detection thresholds and represent a source of potential odour complaints in the local urban environment.