Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
6335770 | Atmospheric Environment | 2016 | 11 Pages |
Abstract
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have attracted an increasing concern in China's megacities. However, rare information is available on the spatial and seasonal variations of inhalation cancer risk (ICR) due to PAH exposure and their relations to specific sources. In this study, year-round PM2.5 samples were collected from 2013 to 2014 by high-volume samplers at four sites (one urban, two rural and one roadside station) in Guangzhou in the highly industrialized and densely populated Pearl River Delta (PRD) region and analyzed for 26 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) together with molecular tracers including levoglucosan, hopanes and elemental carbon. Higher molecular weight PAHs (5-ring or above) accounted for 64.3-87.5% of total PAHs. Estimated annual averages of benzo(a)pyrene-equivalent carcinogenic potency (BaPeq) were 1.37, 2.31 and 1.56Â ng/m3 at urban SZ, rural JL and rural WQS, respectively, much higher than that at the roadside station YJ in an urban street canyon. ICR of PAHs in wintertime reached 2.2Â ÃÂ 10â4, nearly 3 times that in summer; and cancer risk of PAHs was surprisingly higher at the rural site than at other sites. Source contributions by positive matrix factorization (PMF) in the aid of molecular tracers revealed that overall coal combustion and biomass burning altogether contributed 73.8% of total PAHs and 85.2% of BaPeq, and particularly in winter biomass burning became the most significant source of total PAHs and BaPeq (51.8% and 52.5%), followed by coal combustion (32.0% and 39.1%) and vehicle emission (16.2% and 8.4%). The findings of this work suggest that even in China's megacities like Guangzhou, limiting biomass burning may benefit PAHs pollution control and cancer risk reduction.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Earth and Planetary Sciences
Atmospheric Science
Authors
Qingqing Yu, Bo Gao, Guanghui Li, Yanli Zhang, Quanfu He, Wei Deng, Zhonghui Huang, Xiang Ding, Qihou Hu, Zuzhao Huang, Yujun Wang, Xinhui Bi, Xinming Wang,