Journal
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
Volume 572, Issue -, Pages 1175-1183Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.08.030
Keywords
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; Quinones; Nitro-PAH; Atmospheric concentrations; Chemical reactions
Categories
Funding
- Saudi Ministry of Higher Education
- Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR) at King Abdulaziz University
- [2/H/1434]
- Natural Environment Research Council [NE/F016581/1] Funding Source: researchfish
- NERC [NE/F016581/1] Funding Source: UKRI
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Airborne concentrations of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH), quinone and nitro derivatives have been measured at three sites on the coast of Saudi Arabia to the north of the city of Jeddah. The PAH show a general reduction in concentrations from northwest to southeast, consistent with a source from a petrochemical works to the northwest of the sampling sites. In comparison, the concentrations of quinones show little variation between the sampling sites consistent with these being predominantly longer lived secondary pollutants formed from PAH oxidation. The nitro-PAH show a gradient in concentrations similar to but smaller than that for the PAH suggesting a balance between atmospheric formation and removal by photolysis. The 2-nitrofluoranthene: 1-nitropyrene ratio increases from north to south, consistent with atmospheric chemical formation of the former compound, while the ratio of 2-nitrofluoranthene: 2-nitropyrene is consistent with hydroxyl radical as the dominant reactant. An investigation of the changes in PAH congener ratios during air mass transport along the Red Sea coast shows consistency with reaction with a relatively low concentration of hydroxyl radical only for the day with the highest concentrations. It is concluded that while PAH degradation is occurring by chemical reaction, emissions from other locations along the air mass trajectory are most probably also leading to changes in congener ratios. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available