Identification of stationary sources of air pollutants by concentration statistical analysis

The atmospheric concentrations of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and isomeric xylenes (BTEX) in a medium-sized town (S. Maria Capua Vetere, about 32 000 inhabitants, Southern Italy) have been determined during working days and weekends in 2006. The procedure used was 24 h passive adsorption by samplers distributed throughout the town followed by GC/MS analysis. On a yearly base, the arithmetic mean benzene concentrations were above the limit required by the 2000/69/CE European Directive. The Pearson correlation coefficients of the 24 h geometric mean BTEX concentrations were indicative of stationary sources of toluene located in a well circumscribed area of the urban territory, active only during the working days and not officially recognized. The results highlight the effectiveness of the statistical approach used in this study for the identification of pollutant sources.