Volatile organic compounds in some urban locations in United States

Abstract

Importance of this paper: Air pollution in urban locations contains many components that originate from a wide range of industrial, motor vehicle, and natural emissions sources. Some of these components include compounds known or suspected to be carcinogenic, and some of them play important roles in atmospheric chemistry such as tropospheric ozone pollution and stratospheric ozone depletion. Therefore, it is essential to characterize the composition, magnitude, and the distribution of urban air pollution through extensive ambient air monitoring and assess the impact of these components on human health and global atmospheric chemistry. AbstractVolatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been determined to be human risk factors in urban environments, as well as primary contributors to the formation of photochemical oxidants. Ambient air quality measurements of 54 VOCs including hydrocarbons, halogenated hydrocarbons and carbonyls were conducted in or near 13 urban locations in the United States during September 1996 to August 1997. Air samples were collected and analyzed in accordance with US Environmental Protection Agency-approved methods. The target compounds most commonly found were benzene, toluene, xylene and ethylbenzene. These aromatic compounds were highly correlated and proportionally related in a manner suggesting that the primary contributors were mobile sources in all the urban locations studied. Concentrations of total hydrocarbons ranged between 1.39 and 11.93 parts per billion, by volume (ppbv). Ambient air levels of halogenated hydrocarbons appeared to exhibit unique spatial variations, and no single factor seemed to explain trends for this group of compounds. The highest halogenated hydrocarbon concentrations ranged from 0.24 ppbv for methylene chloride to 1.22 ppbv for chloromethane. At participating urban locations for the year of data considered, levels of carbonyls were higher than the level of the other organic compound groups, suggesting that emissions from motor vehicles and photochemical reactions strongly influence ambient air concentrations of carbonyls. Of the most prevalent carbonyls, formaldehyde and acetaldehyde were the dominant compounds, ranging from 1.5-7.4 ppbv for formaldehyde, to 0.8-2.7 ppbv for acetaldehyde. Ó

Volatile Organic Compounds in Ambient Air at Four Residential Locations in Seoul, Korea

“…In compliance with this study, many authors routinely found toluene as the predominant VOC component in the municipal region (Mohamed et al, 2002;Son et al, 2003;Odabasi et al, 2005;Nian et al, 2008;Nguyen et al, 2009;Matsumoto et al, 2010). A serious health concern of toluene (e.g., birth defects) can be suspected depending on its intake amount, exposure duration, genetic susceptibility, age, etc.…”

Multi-year (2004–2008) record of nonmethane hydrocarbons and halocarbons in New England: seasonal variations and regional sources

“…In order to minimize these complications and to eliminate site-to-site differences, long-term continuous measurements from the same location are necessary. Multi-year measurements of NMHCs and halocarbons at remote and urban North American sites have been reported (e.g., Jobson et al, 1994;Hagerman et al, 1997;Kang et al, 2001;Mohamed et al, 2002;Gautrois et al, 2003;Swanson et al, 2003;McCarthy et al, 2006;Qin et al, 2007), but not for New England since 1994-2001 (Goldstein et al, 1995;Kleiman and Prinn, 2000;Barnes et al, 2003;Lee et al, 2006). These studies have provided baseline data from which to monitor future changes in sources and ambient mixing ratios.…”

Biotransformation of halogenated compounds by lyophilized cells of Rhodococcus erythropolis in a continuous solid–gas biofilter

“…Many VOCs are toxic, and some are considered to be carcinogenic, mutagenic, or teratogenic. Emissions of VOCs also contributes to localized pollution problems of toxicity and odor [1,2].…”