Distribution and deposition of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in precipitation in Guangzhou, South China

Significance of wet deposition to removal of atmospheric particulate matter and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: A case study in Guangzhou, China

“…The annual C VWM of S 15 PAH in Guangzhou (170 ng L À1 ) was lower than those obtained from industrial regions with high population densities in Europe and Asia, i.e., 210 ng L À1 in Wielkopolski and 280 ng L À1 in Pozan (Walna et al, 2001), 360 ng L À1 in Paris (Ollivon et al, 2002), 430 ng L À1 in Northern Greece (Manoli et al, 2000), 540 ng L À1 in Hungary (Kiss et al, 1996), 580 ng L À1 in Fortaleza of Brazil (Cavalcante et al, 2012), 1340 ng L À1 in Ankara of Turkey (Gaga et al, 2009), and 1910 ng L À1 in Guangzhou (Huang et al, 2009), but higher than those from small towns and rural areas in Europe, i.e., 72 ng L À1 in west of Paris (Motelay-Massei et al, 2003), 93 ng L À1 in Brno (Skrdlíková et al, 2011), and 110 ng L À1 in Northern Italy (Olivella, 2006).…”

“…Temporally, the concentration levels of TOC and PAHs in wet deposition from the present study were lower than those from previous studies also conducted in Guangzhou, i.e., the level of TOC in 2010 (2.5 mg L À1 ) was lower than those in 2004 (7.1 mg L À1 ) (Xu et al, 2008) and levels of PAHs in 2010 (170 ng L À1 ) were lower than those in 2005 (1910 ng L À1 ). On the other hand, the relative abundance of the low molecular weight (3 þ 4-ring) PAHs, mainly derived from low-efficient combustion of domestic coal and biomass (Liu et al, 2012b), was reduced from 86% in 2005 to 61% in 2010 (Huang et al, 2009 or > 0.5 and in the range of 0.2e0.35 or 0.2e0.5 indicate coal or wood burning and petroleum combustion, respectively (Yunker et al, 1996(Yunker et al, , 2002. In the present study, the mean values of these two indices both decreased from 2005 (0.37 and 0.53) (Huang et al, 2009) to 2010 (0.29 and 0.46), uniformly suggesting similar , and those of straw decreased 69% (68%).…”

“…On the other hand, the relative abundance of the low molecular weight (3 þ 4-ring) PAHs, mainly derived from low-efficient combustion of domestic coal and biomass (Liu et al, 2012b), was reduced from 86% in 2005 to 61% in 2010 (Huang et al, 2009 or > 0.5 and in the range of 0.2e0.35 or 0.2e0.5 indicate coal or wood burning and petroleum combustion, respectively (Yunker et al, 1996(Yunker et al, , 2002. In the present study, the mean values of these two indices both decreased from 2005 (0.37 and 0.53) (Huang et al, 2009) to 2010 (0.29 and 0.46), uniformly suggesting similar , and those of straw decreased 69% (68%). Our recent findings that the levels of sediment PAHs became steady or even lower in the PRD and adjacent coastal region may have been reflective of a shift in energy consumption patterns in South China, e.g., natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas and other environmentally friendly energy types have been increasingly used during the last few years Liu et al, 2012a).…”

Removal of lindane and Escherichia coli (E.coli) from rainwater using photocatalytic and adsorption treatment processes

“…Stock solution of lindane was prepared by dissolving the powdered standard of lindane with chloroform and stored at 4 ˚C (Huang et al, 2009;Rianawati and Balasubramanian, 2009). Meanwhile, the synthetic rainwater of E.coli was prepared by spiking 1mL of wastewater into 1L of distilled water.…”

Removal of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons from Precipitation in an Urban Forest of Guangzhou, South China

“…PAHs in the atmosphere exist mainly in the form of vapors and particles, which can spread over a long distance and cause damage (Ben Hassine et al 2014;Schwarz et al 2011). A large part of these PAHs can be photochemically degraded or deposited into terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems through wet and dry deposition (Ahmed and Ismail 1999;Huang et al 2009;Liu et al 2013;Terzi and Samara 2005). The fate of PAHs can be generally attributed to adsorbing into aqueous systems (oceans, rivers and lakes) (González-Gaya et al 2014), suspending among atmospheric media (affixing in air particulate matter) (Schönbuchner et al 2001), and depositing onto terrestrial ecosystem (soil, forests) (Haritash and Kaushik 2009;Matzner 1984).…”