Concentration of PAHs in Municipal Wastewater in Selected Sewer Collectors of the Upper Silesian Urban Area, Poland

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) constitute a large group of organic compounds that make constant threat to the environment. Their contents from natural sources are low. The processes of incomplete organic fuel combustion are the main sources of PAHs. In Upper Silesia (Poland), large amounts of PAHs are emitted into the air as a result of coal combustion in home furnaces and liquid fuel burning in combustion engines (low emission). PAHs get into surface water because of the surface runoff and point source wastewater discharges from certain industries. The following study presents PAHs concentrations in raw municipal wastewater. The tests were performed out of the heating season. The samples were collected from the combined sewer system. The analyses of PAHs were carried out with gas chromatography coupled with a mass detector (GC-MS). The concentrations of 16 PAHs sum (EPA list) ranged between 1.025 and 3.056 μg/L. Phenanthrene dominated in nearly all the analysed samples. The contents of PAHs, which are priority hazardous substances according to the directive, were high in the analysed samples. The obtained results and the analysis of diagnostic ratios for the emissions of PAHs into the air helped to reach the conclusion that traffic emissions were the main source of PAHs in the examined wastewater

BTEXS Concentrations and Exposure Assessment in a Fire Station

The aim of this study was to evaluate benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, and styrene (BTEXS) concentrations in the changing room and garage in a fire station located in the Upper Silesian agglomeration (Poland), to compare them with the concentrations of the same compounds in the atmospheric air (outdoor background) and to assess the health exposure to BTEXS among firefighters and office workers in this unit. BTEXS samples were collected during the winter of 2018 in parallel in the garage, in the changing room, and outside, using sorption tubes filled with activated carbon. The average total BTEXS concentrations in the changing room and garage were over six times higher than those in the atmospheric air in the vicinity of the fire station. At each sampling site, toluene and benzene had the highest concentrations. According to the diagnostic indicators, the combustion of various materials and fuels was the source of BTEXS inside, while outside, the sources were the combustion of fuels and industrial activity. The carcinogenic risk related to benzene inhalation by the firefighters and office employees in the monitored unit exceeded the acceptable risk level value of 7.8 × 10−6 per 1 μg/m3 by more than 20 times

POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS IN VARIOUS FRANCTIONS OF AMBIENT PARTICULATE MATTER AT AREAS DOMINATED BY TRAFFIC EMISSION

The paper presents the results of the research of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) associated with four fractions of particulate matter (PM, PM10, PM2,5 and PM1; fractions of particles whose aerodynamic diameter ranges from 30 nm to respectively: 100, 10, 2.5 and 1 µm) conducted at points located on the side of a highway and at a busy crossroads in Katowice. The highway research was carried out in the spring, and the crossroads research in the summer of 2012. Samples were taken by low pressure impactor DEKATI. The analysis of PAHs in ambient particulate matter samples was performed by gas chromatography. The average concentration of the sum of 16 PAH associated with PM, which amounted to 14.6 ng/m3 in the spring, was two times higher than in the summer. This concentration was a few or even several times lower than the levels recorded earlier in the cities of southern Poland in the winter. Meanwhile, indicators of toxicity, mutagenicity and carcinogenicity calculated for PAH at the highway and the crossroads were high. This indicates high health risk generated by the presence of PAHs in the Katowice air also in spring and summer time. The values of diagnostic ratio, roughly showing the origin of PAHs associated with the PM, confirmed that during the period of the research transportation was the main source of PAHs in both points of Katowice

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the firefighter workplace: The results from the first in Poland short-term measuring campaign

The results of investigations into 15 ambient polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons at two Polish fire stations belonging to the National Fire Service are presented. At each station, on five different days, hydrocarbons were sampled simultaneously in the changing room, garage, and exterior of the station (in the atmospheric air). The indoor and outdoor diagnostic ratios and benzo(a)pyrene carcinogenicity equivalents were computed from the measured concentrations. The former indicated the combustion of various materials and fuels as the hydrocarbons source, the latter expressed the cumulative carcinogenic hazard from the hydrocarbon mixture. Naphthalene and acenaphthene had the greatest ambient concentrations at each site. The greatest summary concentrations of the 15 hydrocarbons occurred in the changing rooms

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the firefighter workplace: The results from the first in Poland short-term measuring campaign

The results of investigations into 15 ambient polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons at two Polish fire stations belonging to the National Fire Service are presented. At each station, on five different days, hydrocarbons were sampled simultaneously in the changing room, garage, and exterior of the station (in the atmospheric air). The indoor and outdoor diagnostic ratios and benzo(a)pyrene carcinogenicity equivalents were computed from the measured concentrations. The former indicated the combustion of various materials and fuels as the hydrocarbons source, the latter expressed the cumulative carcinogenic hazard from the hydrocarbon mixture. Naphthalene and acenaphthene had the greatest ambient concentrations at each site. The greatest summary concentrations of the 15 hydrocarbons occurred in the changing rooms