Monitoring of PAHs concentration in the ambient air of Isfahan in 2016

Policyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) mainly release to the air from incomplete combustion of fossil fuels like oil, coal, wood, etc. Because of their bioaccumulation, carcinogenicity and mutagenicity effects, they are one of the major concerns of the scientific community. In this study, the concentrations of PAHs in the ambient air of heavily trafficed areas in Isfahan during summer and autumn seasons of 2016 were measured.
Air sampling was conducted passively using SPME fibres (PDMS).. The SPME samplers were installed in 7 points of selected high traffic areas for 24 hours. After sampling, PAHs adsorbed on the fibres were directly analysed with a GC / TQ-MS device without the need for extraction according to standard methods.
Findings: In the studied samples, maximum ΣPAHs was related to Azadi Square with a concentration of 53.83 ± 4.06 ng/m3 in autumn, and minimum concentration of ΣPAHs was measured at Vahid bridge with an average of 21.82 ± 1.28 ng/m3 in summer. Acenaphthylene over the other PAH concentration was the highest. Based on the results, the average concentration of PAHs in autumn was more than summer.
The results showed that exposures to these compounds via ambient air at all stations, especially in high-traffic areas were higher than those suggested by OSHA, NIOSH and AGCCIH. High level of these compounds in different parts of the city can be attributed to the excessive vehicle traffic as well as the topography of the city. Therefore, traffic management and control of emissions from vehicles can be very effective in reducing PAHs emissions.