Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in multimedia environment of Heshan coal district, Guangxi: distribution, source diagnosis and health risk assessment

Abstract

Mining activities are among the major culprits of the wide occurrences of soil and water pollution by PAHs in coal district, which have resulted in ecological fragilities and health risk for local residents. Sixteen PAHs in multimedia environment from the Heshan coal district of Guangxi, South China, were measured, aiming to investigate the contamination level, distribution and possible sources and to estimate the potential health risks of PAHs. The average concentrations of 16 PAHs in the coal, coal gangue, soil, surface water and groundwater were 5114.56, 4551.10, 1280.12 ng g(-1), 426.98 and 381.20 ng L(-1), respectively. Additionally, higher soil and water PAH concentrations were detected in the vicinities of coal or coal gangue dump. Composition analysis, isomeric ratio, Pearson correlation analysis and principal component analysis were performed to diagnose the potential sources of PAHs in different environmental matrices, suggesting the dominant inputs of PAHs from coal/coal combustion and coal gangue in the soil and water. Soil and water guidelines and the incremental lifetime risk (ICLR) were used to assess the health risk, showing that soil and water were heavily contaminated by PAHs, and mean ICLRcoal/coal-gangue and mean ICLRsoil were both significantly higher than the acceptable levels (1 × 10(-4)), posing high potential carcinogenic risk to residents, especially coal workers. This study highlights the environmental pollution problems and public health concerns of coal mining, particularly the potential occupational health hazards of coal miners exposed in Heshan.

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) at High Mountain Site in North China: Concentration, Source and Health Risk Assessment

“…The real risk values may otherwise be underestimated. In many urban areas of China, various local emission sources would contribute more polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which increase the lung cancer risks and the health risk was relative high in these regions (Li et al, 2013;Liu et al, 2015;Huang et al, 2016). Therefore, further health risk assessment needs to be done in urban areas.…”

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Surface Water from Wuhai and Lingwu Sections of the Yellow River: Concentrations, Sources, and Ecological Risk

“…It has been demonstrated that, in the process of coal mining, the treatment and storage of coal provided the basic conditions for the release of PAHs into the environment [4][5][6][7][8][9]. For example, PAHs in coal and coal waste could be leached into the mine water [10] and then enter into the aquatic environment with the discharge of mine water [11].…”

“…erefore, the occurrence of PAHs in surface water nearby the coal mining area has attracted lots of attention recently [5,9,12,13]. However, studies on concentrations, sources, and ecological risk of PAHs in surface water of rivers located in or nearby the coal mining area are generally limited at present.…”

“…Hao et al [12] investigated the concentrations and sources of PAHs in surface water of Fuyang River nearby the Fengfeng coal mining area. Huang et al [5] reported that the average concentration of 16 PAHs was 427 ng/L in surface water of rivers located in Heshan coal district in Guangxi.…”

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Soil Around Coal-Fired Power Plants in Shandong, China

“…The high concentrations of PAHs detected in leaves of shrubs near coal-fired power plants could pinpoint conspicuous air contamination [13]. A number of reports have shown that coal tar is an important source of urban PAH and that high PAH concentrations in soil and water have been detected in the vicinity of coal or coal gangue dumps [14][15]. Obvious differences have also been observed in the PAH content of soil in the northern and southern regions of China.…”