Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and thiaarenes in the emission from hard‐coal combustion†

Abstract

In order to identify the polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAC) responsible for the carcinogenicity of hard-coal effluents, the emission condensate was separated by Chromatographic techniques into a PAC-free and various PAC-containing fractions. At a detection limit of 0.1 mg per kg of burned coal, more than 170 neutral PAC and about 70 basic N-PAC were found by GC/MS. Within the neutral fraction, 111 PAH, 57 S-PAC and 6 O-PAC were detected. In total 80 compounds could be positively identified by comparison with synthetic standards. The subfraction containing PAH of molecular weight 300 and 302 was particularly complex; 8 homologs of pyrene, fluoranthene and perylene not earlier encountered in environmental matrices were identified.The PAC-free fraction and that containing PAC with only 2 or 3 condensed rings showed no noticeable carcinogenicity upon testing them on the dorsal skin of mice, although present to 77% by weight in the emission condensate. Likewise, the subfraction containing N-PAC and nitro-PAC accounted for only 4-7% of the total carcinogenicity. The subfraction containing PAH, S-PAC and O-PAC with 4 and 5 rings was almost as active as the subfraction containing compounds with 6 and more rings, each contributing by almost 50% to the total carcinogenicity. While the potency †Presented at the 3rd Workshop on the Chemistry and Analysis

Role of cell signalling involved in induction of apoptosis by benzo[a]pyrene and cyclopenta[c,d]pyrene in Hepa1c1c7 cells

“…Cyclopenta polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (CP-PAH) are a related class of environmental contaminants, which contain an ethylene fragment fused to an unsubstituted PAH, creating an unsaturated 5-membered ring. CP-PAH have been found in a variety of environmental sources including gasoline and diesel exhaust, carbon black, coal combustion emissions, and cigarette smoke [Spitzer and Dannecker, 1983;Tong and Karasek, 1984;Grimmer et al, 1985;IARC, 1986;Schmidt et al, 1986]. Interestingly, the CP-PAH, cyclopenta [c,d]pyrene (CPP; Fig.…”

Sources of PAHs in the Environment

“…Coal-fired stations had the lowest emission factor of all the installations studied and the authors observe that though they are lower than vehicle emission factors, the greater flux of a power station results in considerable impact in the neighbourhood of the emission. An extensive characterisation of the emissions from the burning of hard coal was undertaken by Schmidt et al [78], who identified 111 PAHs in the 'neutral' fraction of their condensate alone, as well as identifying a particularly complex mixture of compounds with molecular mass 300 and 302 amu (so-called 'coronene companions'). • This fIgure was not corrected for cars with emission control devices (approx.…”

Quantification of complex polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon mixtures in standard reference materials using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometry

“…The most prominent source of PPAHs and MPAHs is the incomplete combustion of organic material [7,8] in either natural processes, such as forest fires, volcanic eruptions and hydrothermal processes [9,10,11,12], or anthropogenic processes, such as the combustion of fossil fuel and biomass [13,14,15]. Heterocyclic analogs of PAHs, in which one or more carbon atoms are replaced by nitrogen, sulfur, or oxygen, have also been measured as environmental contaminants.…”