No abstract

No abstract

Exposure to ambient volatile organic compound (VOCs) in urban areas is of interest because of their potential chronic and acute adverse effects to public health. Limited information is available about VOC sources in urban areas in Canada. An investigation of ambient VOCs levels, their potential sources and associated risks to public health was undertaken for the urban core of Alberta's largest city (downtown Calgary) for the period 2010-2015. Twenty-four hour arithmetic and geometric mean concentrations of total VOCs were 42μg/m and 39μg/m, respectively and ranged from 16 to 160μg/m, with winter levels about two-fold higher than summer. Alkanes (58%) were the most dominant compounds followed by halogenated VOCs (22%) and aromatics (11%). Mean and maximum 24h ambient concentrations of selected VOCs of public health concern were below chronic and acute health risk screening criteria of the United States regulatory agencies and a cancer screening benchmark used in Alberta equivalent to 1 in 100,000 lifetime risk. The Positive matrix factorization (PMF) model revealed nine VOC sources at downtown Calgary, where oil/natural gas extraction/combustion (26%), fuel combustion (20%), traffic sources including gasoline exhaust, diesel exhaust, mixed fugitive emissions (10-15%), and industrial coatings/solvents (12%) were predominant. Other sources included dry cleaning (3.3%), biogenic (3.5%) and a background source (18%). Source-specific health risk values were also estimated. Estimated cancer risks for all sources were below the Alberta cancer screening benchmark, and estimated non-cancer risks for all sources were well below a safe level.

An important source of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in residential areas, particularly in the winter season, is the burning process when wood is used for domestic heating. The target of this study was to investigate the particle-phase PAH composition of ambient samples in order to assess the influence of wood combustion on air quality in residential areas. PM10 samples (particulate matter <10 μm) were collected during two winter seasons at two rural residential areas near Stuttgart in Germany. Samples were extracted using toluene in an ultrasonic bath and subsequently analysed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Twenty-one PAH compounds were detected and quantified. The PAH fingerprints of different wood combustion emissions were found in significant amounts in ambient samples and high correlations between total PAHs and other wood smoke tracers were found, indicating the dominant influence of wood combustion on air quality in residential areas. Carcinogenic PAHs were detected in high concentrations and contributed 49% of the total PAHs in the ambient air. To assess the health risk, we investigated the exposure profile of individual PAHs. The findings suggest that attention should be focused on using the best combustion technology available to reduce emissions from wood-fired heating during the winter in residential areas.

Abstract. The offline Eulerian AURAMS (A Unified Regional Air quality Modelling System) chemical transport model was adapted to simulate airborne concentrations of seven PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons): phenanthrene, anthracene, fluoranthene, pyrene, benz[a]anthracene, chrysene + triphenylene, and benzo[a]pyrene. The model was then run for the year 2002 with hourly output on a grid covering southern Canada and the continental USA with 42 km horizontal grid spacing. Model predictions were compared to ~5000 24 h-average PAH measurements from 45 sites, most of which were located in urban or industrial areas. Eight of the measurement sites also provided data on particle/gas partitioning which had been modelled using two alternative schemes. This is the first known regional modelling study for PAHs over a North American domain and the first modelling study at any scale to compare alternative particle/gas partitioning schemes against paired field measurements. The goal of the study was to provide output concentration maps of use to assessing human inhalation exposure to PAHs in ambient air. Annual average modelled total (gas + particle) concentrations were statistically indistinguishable from measured values for fluoranthene, pyrene and benz[a]anthracene whereas the model underestimated concentrations of phenanthrene, anthracene and chrysene + triphenylene. Significance for benzo[a]pyrene performance was close to the statistical threshold and depended on the particle/gas partitioning scheme employed. On a day-to-day basis, the model simulated total PAH concentrations to the correct order of magnitude the majority of the time. The model showed seasonal differences in prediction quality for volatile species which suggests that a missing emission source such as air–surface exchange should be included in future versions. Model performance differed substantially between measurement locations and the limited available evidence suggests that the model's spatial resolution was too coarse to capture the distribution of concentrations in densely populated areas. A more detailed analysis of the factors influencing modelled particle/gas partitioning is warranted based on the findings in this study.