Survey of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in arterial street air of Hangzhou

The presence of particulate and vapor PAHs, SO2 and NOx and other interrelated conditions (temperature, traffic intensity and wind velocity) were investigated in the arterial street air of Hangzhou. The concentration of the nine PAHs in the air was mean to 11.7 micrograms/m3, and the content of benzo(a) pyrene was up to 0.108 microgram/m3. The contents of PAHs in the sampling sites were in good relation to the traffic intensity, and would be also affected by the terrain and meteorological conditions. The occurrences of PAHs in ambient air were mainly affected by their physical, chemical characters and temperature. The three- and four-ring PAHs (MW < or = 228) mainly existed in the vapor phase and the five-ring PAHs (MW > 228) existed predominately in the particulate phase. The fraction of vapor PAHs in the total nine PAHs was 84.2% in the air of the sampling sites. In the morning and evening, the concentrations of PAHs in the arterial street air were higher than that on the noon and the diurnal variation of PAHs was similar to that of the traffic gas NOx. A conclusion would be drawn that the major source of PAHs in the arterial street air was the traffic. And the results indicated that 75% of BaP would come from traffic source and remaining 25% of BaP would come from non-traffic source.