Seasonal variation of PCDD/Fs in the metropolis of Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract

Atmospheric concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/F) compounds were investigated at three different regions of Istanbul which reflect urban, urban/industrial, and sub-urban characteristics. Air samples were collected simultaneously for both gaseous and particulate phases using high volume samplers on monthly time intervals from May 2011 to October 2012. The highest concentrations (3,056 fg/m(3) and 156 fg I-TEQ/m(3)) were observed at the sampling site that reflects traffic, residential, and industrial emission source characteristics, while the lowest concentrations (829 fg/m(3) and 38 fg I-TEQ/m(3)) were observed at the sampling point which is far away from centrum and reflects sub-urban characteristics. Concentrations of PCDD congeners were, in general, found to be higher than PCDF congeners, and OCDD, 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDD/F, and OCDF congeners were recorded to be the most abundant congeners. Winter season concentrations were also found to be higher especially in particulate phase. As a result, combustion processes such as motor vehicles and residential heating equipment were thought to be the principal sources of emissions of PCDD/F compounds when both congener profiles and seasonal variations are considered. Basic statistical evaluation of the data resembled high degree of inverse correlations between PCDD/F concentrations and UV and solar radiation.

Review of the current state and main sources of dioxins around the world

“…Monitoring of ambient air concentrations is then an important source of information in order to measure the evolution of these pollutants, depending on the location, meteorology variables (Gunes and Saral, 2014), mechanisms of transportation, deposition and dispersion (Castro Jimenez et al, 2011), or even seasonal parameters; it has been probed that the concentration of dioxins in ambient air is higher during winter months (Ding et al, 2013;Gunes and Saral, 2014;Wcgiel et al, 2014). Other important meteorological parameters that interact with dioxin concentrations are ultraviolet (UV), solar radiation, and precipitation.…”

“…Table 1 represents some gathered data by different reviews, where different ambient concentrations in Europe are shown (expressed in I-TEQ Table 1. Ambient air concentrations in Europe: (A) Lohmann and Jones (1998); (B) Mari et al (2008); (C) Gunes and Saral (2014) It can be seen in Table 1 that industrial locations have the highest peaks of concentrations, followed by urban, rural, and remote sites, although this does not imply that industrial areas have implicit dangerous levels of air concentrations, if proper measures are established (Abad et al, 2007;Li et al, 2010). Although Table 1 only refers to air concentrations, the same differences between different location areas can be extended to soils pollution, with higher concentrations for urban samples than for rural ones (Creaser et al, 1990;Urban et al, 2014).…”

“…For other Table 2. Ambient concentrations in Asia: (A) Gunes and Saral (2014); (B) Ding et al (2013); (C) Lohmann and Jones (1998); (D) Lee et al (2004) countries with a lower degree of technological and industrial development, again there are the nonindustrial sources from uncontrolled events, as the most representative sources of dioxins from those areas Shih et al, 2008;Huang et al, 2011;Shin et al, 2011). Finally, concentrations of dioxins in Asia are also influenced by a specific event from the past, whose consequences are still noticeable today: The use of Agent Orange during Vietnam War in the 1960s-1970s caused residual TCDD to be still present in low concentrations in this country, similar to suburban areas in an industrialized country like Japan (Kishida et al, 2010).…”

Assessment of Air Pollution with Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins (PCDDs) and Polychlorinated Dibenzofuranes (PCDFs) in Lithuania

“…Concentration of airborne PCDD/F depends on many factors, like pollution sources, strength and direction of convective air flows, air trajectories, atmospheric deposition [33,38] and meteorological conditions (temperature, wind speed, wind direction, barometric pressure and humidity). For the measuring of meteorological conditions, we used the Magellan vehicle-mount mobile weather station.…”

“…In Lithuania, according to the data of 2016, about 30 percent of waste is landfilled, 5 percent is stored, 48 percent is recycled, and 17 percent is burned (EUROSTAT). The amount of PCDD/F in ambient air is higher in winter season [32][33][34]. Thus, a monitoring of the PCDD/F emissions in atmosphere is an important factor while trying to assess concentration of pollutants depending on location, meteorological parameters [31], transport mechanisms, sedimentation and dispersion [35] or even seasonal changes.…”