Potential source contributions and risk assessment of PAHs in sediments from Taihu Lake, China: Comparison of three receptor models

In this work, three receptor models (Principal Component Analysis–Multiple Linear Regression (PCA–MLR) model, Unmix model and Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) model) were employed to investigate potential source apportionment of PAHs in sediments from Taihu Lake, China. A total of 15 priority PAHs in 29 sediments from Taihu Lake were measured, with ∑PAHs (sum of 15 PAHs) concentrations ranging from 209 to 1003 ng g−1 dw. Source apportionment results derived from three different models were similar, indicating that the highest contribution to ∑PAHs was from vehicular emission (53.6–54.3%), followed by coal combustion (23.8–28.8%) and wood combustion (11.9–16.0%). The contribution of mixed wood and coal combustion source identified by PCA–MLR was 41.3%. For the first time the risk assessment for each identified source category was quantitatively calculated by combining the BaP equivalents (BaPE) values with estimated source contributions. The results showed that vehicular emission posed the highest toxic risk, with BaPE values of 26.9–31.5 ng g−1 dw, and the BaPE values for coal combustion and wood combustion were 6.56–15.6 ng g−1 dw and 2.94–6.11 ng g−1 dw, respectively. The distributions of contribution and BaPE for each identified source category were studied as well, and showed similar trends among the sampling sites, for each source category.

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► Fifteen PAHs concentration were measured in sediments.
► Source apportionment was study by three receptor models.
►  Vehicular emission got the highest contributions: 53.6–54.3%.
► Vehicular emission got the highest toxic risk: 26.9–31.5 ng g−1 dw for BaPE.