Characteristics, Source and Risk Assessment of Soil Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons around Oil Wells in the Yellow River Delta, China

Abstract

The Yellow River Delta (YRD) is the most complete wetland ecosystem in the warm temperate zone of China and is rich in oil resources. However, with petroleum extraction and the development of the economy, pollution of the YRD has been paid increasing attention, in particular, pollution via polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), as they have caused great harm to human health and the ecosystem balance. Based on the investigations of a research group in 2009, this study re-collected samples according to the same sampling points and analyzed the concentration, composition, source, ecological risk and health risk of PAHs in 2021. The concentration of ΣPAH16 in the surface soil of YRD in 2009 ranged from 2.6 to 8275.46 ng/g, with an average of 1744.41 ng/g. The concentration of ΣPAH16 in 2021 ranged from 56.25 to 582.56 ng/g, with an average of 149.63 ng/g. Therefore, the pollution situation in the YRD in 2021 was significantly improved compared with 2009. The composition of PAHs in soil in 2009 and 2021 was similar, which was dominated by low-ring PAHs. The evaluation results of the toxicity equivalent factor method showed that there was no potential ecological risk in the soil in 2009 and 2021. The evaluation results of the lifetime cancer risk increment model showed that the incremental lifetime cancer risk models (ILCRs) of soil PAHs in 2009 and 2021 were lower than the safety threshold of 10−6; therefore, there was no carcinogenic risk. The existing management measures for oil wells need to be further promoted to protect the regional ecological environment in the YRD.