TVOCs and BTEX Concentrations in the Air of South Pars Special Economic Energy Zone

Background and Petrochemical industries and refineries are regarded as important emission sources of inorganic and organic pollutants. The aim of this study was to survey TVOCs and BTEX in the air of South Pars Special Economic Energy Zone in 2014.
In a cross-sectional study sampling and analysis was done by NIOSH 1501 method. The study was carried out in 336 activated carbon tubes and personal sampling pump in 6 sampling stations during one year. The compounds were extracted by solvent carbon disulfide and analyzed using Gas Chromatography- Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID). Data analysis was performed in SPSS Ver.18 applying Kruskal-Wallis, Fligner test and ANOVA.
The mean concentrations of TVOCs and TBTEX were 229.34 and 31.23 µg/m3 in cold season and 212.19 and 29.89 µg/m3 in warm season, respectively. The mean concentrations of Benzene in all stations were 11.72 µg/m3 which were higher than the threshold levels recommended by Iranian Clean Air Act and US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). The ANOVA results showed a significant difference between the concentration of pollutants and hour, month and sampling stations (P0.05).
The concentrations of measured pollutants in cold season were higher than those in warm season. High concentrations of Benzene in cold and warm seasons were used to identify areas of high exposure risk.