CHARACTERIZATION AND SOURCE IDENTIFICATION OF POLY CYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS (PAHS) FOR COASTAL INDUSTRIAL CITY MANGALORE, INDIA

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous environmental pollutants generated primarily during the incomplete combustion of organic materials. These compounds are contributed to the atmosphere due to various anthropogenic activities in the form of particulate matter. In this study Particulate matter, PM10 samples were collected from a Traffic site (Town hall) and Industrial site (KSPCB) of a coastal city Mangalore in India during post the monsoon period between October to December 2014. The samples were analysed for PAHs namely seven Fluorene (Flu), Acenaphthene (Ace), Chrysene (Chr), Benz(a)anthracene (B(a)A), Benzo(a)pyrene (B(a)P), Benzo(b)fluoranthene (B(b)F), Indeno (1,2,3-c,d) and pyerene (Ind) using fluorescence spectrophotometer. The quarterly average of TPAHs concentration of the industrial site varied from 12 ng/m3 to 109 ng/m3 with an average of about 70.2 ng/m3 whereas TPAHs concentration of traffic site varied from 39 ng/m3 to 252 ng/m3 with an average of 109 ng/m3. Further it was observed that the TPAH concentrations showed increasing trend TPAHoct < TPAHNov < TPAHDec due to meteorological factors. Concurrently TPAH concentrations at traffic site was 1.8 times higher than that of the industrial site. The source apportionment study carried out using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) assisted by varimax rotation revealed that there were only two types of principal components PC1 and PC2. Both the PCs were observed to have variances of 66.21% and 14.38% respectively and classified to originate from fossil fuel burning predominantly diesel/petrol combustion in vehicles for traffic site and the rest from other type of fuels for the industrial site

Polythiophene nanofilms for sensitive fluorescence detection of viruses in drinking water

Molecular imprints of the tobacco necrosis virus (TNV) have been formed within polythiophene nanofilms with an approximate thickness of 200 nm. These films have been electrochemically deposited onto conducting Au surfaces. Upon rebinding, the TNV-polythiophene complex changes the fluorescence intensity of the nanofilm. The fluorescence intensity at 410 nm was observed to be proportional to the concentration of viruses in the range of 0.1–10 ng L−1 (0.15–15 pg) with the lower calculated detection limit of 2.29 ng L−1 (3.4 pg). The intensity of the fluorescence emission is not affected by the thickness of the polythiophene film and the nature of TNV specific binding sites. Kinetic data analyses showed that the nanofilm responds to TNV within 2 min; and cross-selectivity studies with tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) showed an excellent specificity for the targeted TNV. These binding experiments demonstrate the potential of fluorescence emission for the specific, label free and rapid detection of viruses using nanofilm sensors. Taking into account the lower limit of detection, the fluorescence sensing reported here is reliable, simple to perform, rapid, cost-effective and offers a sensitive analytical method for virus detection in water resources

Distribution of Gaseous Phase Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Rural Environment of India

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are considered as atmospheric contaminants due to their carcinogenic and mutagenic properties. In the present study, 8 selected gaseous phase PAHs were determined in ambient air representing rural environment. The gaseous phase PAHs samples were investigated for quantification of selected PAHs in various seasons and possible sources of gaseous phase PAHs in rural environment. The samples were collected using a cartridge containing XAD-2 resin placed between layers of polyurethane foam (PUF) and analyzed by fluorescence technique. The seasonal variation in selected gaseous phase individual PAHs varied between 28-496.9 ng m-3 during winter, summer and post-monsoon season respectively. The concentration of gaseous phase PAHs was dominated by Phen, Anth and Flt. The gaseous phase concentration of PAHs were 3.9 and 5.1 times higher in winter as compared to summer and post-monsoon season respectively. The higher concentration winter may be due to higher emission from biomass burning, fuel used for cooking such as coal and kerosene and other heating activities to protect from cold winter. The three ring gaseous phase PAHs were predominant than four and five membered ring PAHs and contribution varied between74.9-93.9 % of selected PAHs. The ratio analysis studies showed that traditional fuel used for cooking purposes mainly wood, kerosene, coal and biomass burning are the major contributors in rural environmen

Characterization and Source Identification of PM bound Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAHs) in Semi-Arid Region of India

Respirable particulate (PM10) and particulate phase polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in ambient air were measured by collecting samples during winter, summer and post-monsoon season at rural environment in north-western part of India. The concentration of 8 selected PAHs, Acenaphthene (Ace), Fluorene (Flu), Phenanthrene (Phen), Anthracene (Anth), Fluoranthene (Flt), Pyrene (Pyr), Chrysene (Chr), Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) were quantified and characterized for different seasons. The ratio of average total PAHs concentration of winter to summerand winter to post-monsoon were assessed for rural environment was 5.7 and 6.4 for summer and pot-monsoon season respectively which is in agreement with the general trend of 1.5-10. The four membered ring PAHs were predominant and contributed to about 62% of total PAHs during winter season. A correlation study was performed among selected PAHs for source identification for all the three seasons. The results are in agreement with the traditional method of burning biomass, wood, coal and agricultural waste for cooking, a practice still followed in rural environmen

A study on major inorganic ion composition of atmospheric aerosols

Abstract: Atmospheric aerosol samples were collected from Akola and Buldana region covering around 40 sqkm area during October-November 2002 and were analyzed for ten major inorganic ions namely F-, Cl-, NO3-, SO42-, PO42-, Na +, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+ and NH using ion chromatographic technique. Theaverage mass of aerosols was found to be 225.81 µg/m3 4+ with standard deviation of 31.29 and average total water soluble load of total cations and anions was found to be 4.32 µg/m3. The concentration of ions in samples showed a general pattern as SO42->NO3->Cl- >PO>Ca2+> NH4+> Mg2+>K for cations. The overall composition of the aerosols was taken into account to identify the sources. The trend showed higher concentration of sodium followed by calcium, sulfate, nitrate, phosphate and ammoinum and found to be influenced by terrestrial sources. The presence of SO42- and NO3- in aerosols may be due to re-suspension of soil particles. Ca2+, Mg2+ and Cl are to be derived from soil materials. The presence of NH+4 may be attributed to the reaction of NH3- vapors with acidic gases may react or condense on an acidic particle surface of anthropogenic origin. Theatmospheric aerosol is slightly acidic due to neutralization of basicity by SO2 and NOx

Efficient and region-selective conversion of octanes to epoxides under ambient conditions: Performance of tri-copper catalyst, [Cu3I(L)]+1 (L=7-N-Etppz)

In this paper, is described the conversion of the octane group of hydrocarbons into industrially important epoxides using tri-copper catalyst, [Cu3I(L)]+1 (L=7-N-Etppz). The role of hydrogen peroxide as a sacrificial oxygen donor during catalytic conversion to epoxides has been investigated. The performance of the catalyst has been evaluated in terms of turnover numbers (TON) and turnover frequencies (TOF) reported in this article.

Efficient and region-selective conversion of octanes to epoxides under ambient conditions: Performance of tri-copper catalyst, [Cu3I(L)]+1 (L=7-N-Etppz)

742-745In this paper, is described the conversion of the octane group of hydrocarbons into industrially important epoxides using tri-copper catalyst, [Cu3I(L)]+1 (L=7-N-Etppz). The role of hydrogen peroxide as a sacrificial oxygen donor during catalytic conversion to epoxides has been investigated. The performance of the catalyst has been evaluated in terms of turnover numbers (TON) and turnover frequencies (TOF) reported in this article

Chemical Characterization of rainwater at Akkalkuwa, India

The chemical composition of rainwater changes from place to place and region to region under the influence of several major factors, viz., topography, its distance from sea and overall rainfall pattern. The present study investigated the chemical composition of precipitation at Akkalkuwa, district Nandurbar, in the State Maharashtra during southwest monsoon. The rainwater samples were collected on event basis during June-September 2008 and were analyzed for pH, major anions (F, Cl, NO3, SO4) and cations (Ca, Mg, Na, K, NH4). The pH varied from 6.0 and 6.8 with an average of 6.29 ± 0.23 indicating alkaline nature and dominance of Ca in precipitation. The relative magnitude of major ions in precipitation follows the pattern as Ca>Cl>Na>SO4>NO3>HCO3>NH4>Mg>K>F>H. The Neutralization factor (NF) was found to be NFCa = 0.95, NFNH4 = 0.31, NFMg = 0.27 and NFK = 0.08 indicating below cloud process in which crustal components are responsible for neutralization of anions. Significant correlation of NH4 with SO4 and NO3 was observed with correlation coefficient of r = 0.79 and 0.75, respectively