Identifying risk sources of air contamination by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

- PAH concentrations were measured in air and exhaust gases.
- Marker BghiPe/BaP was used to identify air pollution sources in relation to time.
- Various statistical methods were used precisely to evaluate the BghiPe/BaP ratio.
- In warmer periods, transport is exclusively the source of PAH air pollution.
- In colder periods, local heating stoves contribute to the presence of PAHs in air.

This article is directed to determining concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are sorbed to solid particles in the air. Pollution sources were identified on the basis of the ratio of benzo[ghi]perylene (BghiPe) to benzo[a]pyrene (BaP). Because various important information is lost by determining the simple ratio of concentrations, least squares linear regression (classic ordinary least squares regression), reduced major axis, orthogonal regression, and Kendall-Theil robust diagnostics were utilized for identification. Statistical evaluation using all aforementioned methods demonstrated different ratios of the monitored PAHs in the intervals examined during warmer and colder periods. Analogous outputs were provided by comparing gradients of the emission factors acquired from the measured concentrations of BghiPe and BaP in motor vehicle exhaust gases. Based on these outputs, it was possible plausibly to state that the influence of burning organic fuels in heating stoves is prevalent in colder periods whereas in warmer periods transport was the exclusive source because other sources of PAH emissions were not found in the examined locations.