Spatial and temporal variation of outdoor and indoor exposure of volatile organic compounds in Greater Cairo

Matysik, Silke; Ramadan, A.; Schlink, Uwe

doi:10.5094/apr.2010.012

Cited by 48 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Toluene was the dominant compound at both sites during all four seasons, as reported in many previous studies performed at other urban areas (Hoque et al 2008;Masiol et al 2014;Matysik et al 2010;Miller et al 2012;Wang et al 2010). Toluene was the dominant compound at both sites during all four seasons, as reported in many previous studies performed at other urban areas (Hoque et al 2008;Masiol et al 2014;Matysik et al 2010;Miller et al 2012;Wang et al 2010).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 85%

“…This variation can be mainly ascribed to changes in weather conditions and source emissions. Although the seasonal cycle described in this work for toluene and xylenes has been widely observed for aromatics, including benzene, in many cities of the world (Gallego et al 2008;Hoque et al 2008;Masiol et al 2014;Matysik et al 2010;Valach et al 2015;Wang et al 2010), some studies have reported different seasonal effects on BTX concentrations (Cerón-Bretón et al 2015;Ho et al 2004;Pilidis et al 2005). Additionally, mixing heights are notably higher during summer time, favoring the dilution of atmospheric pollutants and reducing their concentrations.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 66%

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BTX in urban areas of eastern Spain: a focus on time variations and sources

Galindo

Varea

Gil-Moltó

et al. 2016

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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Seasonal and daily cycles of BTX were studied in a non-industrialized city (Alicante) and an urban area near an oil refinery plant (Castellón) in order to evaluate the influence of different sources on time variations. Lower levels were observed in summer than in winter at both locations due to higher dispersion conditions and photochemical removal of BTX during the summer season. Daily patterns showed seasonal differences and were controlled by traffic emissions and the evolution of the mixing layer height, with no influence of the petroleum refinery plant in the city of Castellón. The results of the conditional bivariate probability function suggest that the influence of this source on BTX concentrations was limited to point impacts. At both sites, benzene exhibited a different behavior from toluene and xylenes, most likely due to its significantly lower chemical reactivity.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 66%

BTX in urban areas of eastern Spain: a focus on time variations and sources

Galindo

Varea

Gil-Moltó

et al. 2016

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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“…15 Aromatics are important components of fossil fuels besides alkanes and alkenes (Koppmann, 2007). In Egyptian cities, ambient VOC mixing ratios from traffic have been reported to be dominated by aromatics (Matysik et al, 2010), whereas in Saudi Arabian cities, alkanes were more abundant (Barletta et al, 2017). Consistent with these findings, we observed higher average speciated OH reactivity from aromatics (1.3 s -1 ) in the Suez Canal (influenced by air from Cairo, roads next to the Canal, a refinery, and a power plant) compared to the Arabian Gulf (0.9 s -1 , influenced by oil/gas industry emissions and 20 partly by urban air from Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait).…”

Section: Strongly Polluted Regions: Arabian Gulf Gulf Of Suez and Sumentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite being an air pollution hotspot, very few observational atmospheric data exist from the Arabian Basin, and studies of VOCs in the region are scarce and mostly urban (Doskey et al, 1999;Matysik et al, 2010;Salameh et al, 2014;Simpson et al, 2014;Khalil et al, 2016;Salameh et al, 2016;Barletta et al, 2017). In order to chemically map the region, a comprehensive suite of atmospheric measurements was performed from a ship sailing around the Arabian Peninsula in 30 summer 2017 during the AQABA (Air Quality and Climate Change in the Arabian Basin) cruise.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shipborne measurements of total OH reactivity around the Arabian Peninsula and its role in ozone chemistry

Pfannerstill¹,

Wang²,

Edtbauer³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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The Arabian Peninsula is characterized by high and increasing levels of photochemical air pollution. Strong solar irradiation, high temperatures and large anthropogenic emissions of reactive trace gases result in intense photochemical activity, especially during the summer months. However, air chemistry measurements in the region are scarce. In order to assess regional pollution sources and oxidation rates, the first ship-based direct measurements of total OH reactivity were 15 performed in summer 2017 from a vessel travelling around the peninsula during the AQABA (Air Quality and Climate Change in the Arabian Basin) campaign. Total OH reactivity is the total loss frequency of OH radicals due to all reactive compounds present in air and defines the local lifetime of OH, the most important oxidant in the troposphere. During the AQABA campaign, the total OH reactivity ranged from below the detection limit (5.4 s -1 ) over the north-western Indian Ocean (Arabian Sea) to a maximum of 32.8 ± 9.6 s -1 over the Arabian Gulf (also known as Persian Gulf) when air originated 20 from large petroleum extraction/processing facilities in Iraq and Kuwait. In the polluted marine regions, OH reactivity was broadly comparable to highly populated urban centers in intensity and composition. The permanent influence of heavy maritime traffic over the seaways of the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Gulf of Oman resulted in median OH sinks of 7.9−8.5 s -1 . Due to the rapid oxidation of direct volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs) were observed to be the main contributor to OH reactivity around the Arabian Peninsula (9−35 % by 25 region). Over the Arabian Gulf, alkanes and alkenes from the petroleum extraction and processing industry were an important OH sink with ~9 % of total OH reactivity each, whereas NO x and aromatic hydrocarbons (~10 % each) played a larger role in the Suez Canal, which is influenced more by ship traffic and urban emissions. We investigated the number and identity of chemical species necessary to explain the total OH sink. Taking into account ~100 individually measured chemical species, the observed total OH reactivity can typically be accounted for within the measurement uncertainty, with 30 10 dominant trace gases accounting for 20−39 % of regional total OH reactivity. The chemical regimes causing the intense ozone pollution around the Arabian Peninsula were investigated using total OH reactivity measurements. Ozone vs. OH reactivity relationships were found to be a useful tool for differentiating between ozone titration in fresh emissions and https://doi.photochemically aged air masses. Our results show that the ratio of NO x -and VOC-attributed OH reactivity was favorable for ozone formation almost all around the Arabian Peninsula, which is due to NO x and VOCs from ship exhausts and, often, oil/gas production. Therewith, total OH reactivity measurements help to elucidate the chemical processes underlying the extreme tropospheric ozone concentrations observed in sum...

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“…Studies on sources of indoor gas‐phase air pollution so far focused mostly on cleaning detergents and air fresheners (terpenes), scented candles (carbonyls), building materials (all classes of compounds), or smoking . Also recognized as an important source of NMOG indoors is the transfer of outdoor air pollution to the indoor . However, how gas‐phase cooking emission rates compare to those from other indoor and outdoor sources remains unclear.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantification of the impact of cooking processes on indoor concentrations of volatile organic species and primary and secondary organic aerosols

et al. 2019

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Cooking is recognized as an important source of particulate pollution in indoor and outdoor environments. We conducted more than 100 individual experiments to characterize the particulate and non‐methane organic gas emissions from various cooking processes, their reaction rates, and their secondary organic aerosol yields. We used this emission data to develop a box model, for simulating the cooking emission concentrations in a typical European home and the indoor gas‐phase reactions leading to secondary organic aerosol production. Our results suggest that about half of the indoor primary organic aerosol emission rates can be explained by cooking. Emission rates of larger and unsaturated aldehydes likely are dominated by cooking while the emission rates of terpenes are negligible. We found that cooking dominates the particulate and gas‐phase air pollution in non‐smoking European households exceeding 1000 μg m−3. While frying processes are the main driver of aldehyde emissions, terpenes are mostly emitted due to the use of condiments. The secondary aerosol production is negligible with around 2 μg m−3. Our results further show that ambient cooking organic aerosol concentrations can only be explained by super‐polluters like restaurants. The model offers a comprehensive framework for identifying the main parameters controlling indoor gas‐ and particle‐phase concentrations.

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Spatial and temporal variation of outdoor and indoor exposure of volatile organic compounds in Greater Cairo

Cited by 48 publications

References 31 publications

BTX in urban areas of eastern Spain: a focus on time variations and sources

BTX in urban areas of eastern Spain: a focus on time variations and sources

Shipborne measurements of total OH reactivity around the Arabian Peninsula and its role in ozone chemistry

Quantification of the impact of cooking processes on indoor concentrations of volatile organic species and primary and secondary organic aerosols

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