Measurement of phase-distributed nitrophenols in Rome ambient air

Atmospheric nitrophenols (NPs) were determined both in the gas and particle phases by combining the annular denuder sampling technique with GC-MS analysis. The phase distribution of six mono-NPs identified in air sampled in downtown Rome was assessed. 4-NP, 3-methyl-4-NP and 2,6-dimethyl-4-NP were found for more than 75% in the particle phase, whilst 2-NP, 4-methyl-2-NP and 5-methyl-2-NP predominated in the gas phase. Concentration levels lower than 20 ng m-3 were observed for all NPs, among which 4-NP (17.8+/-5.6 ng m-3) and 2-NP (10.4+/-4.2 ng m-3) were the most abundant congeners in the two phases, respectively.     

Sources of variability in ambient air toxics monitoring data

Under the Clean Air Act Amendments, the United States Environmental Protection Agency is required to regulate emissions of 188 hazardous air pollutants. The EPA, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards is currently conducting a National-scale Air Toxics Assessment with a goal to identify air toxics which are of greatest concern, in terms of contribution to population inhalation risk. The results will be used to set priorities for the collection of additional air toxics emissions and monitoring data. Expanded ambient air toxics monitoring will take the form of a national air toxics monitoring network. With all monitoring data, however, comes uncertainty in the form of environmental variability (spatial and temporal) and monitoring error (sample collection and laboratory analysis). With this in mind, existing data from the Urban Air Toxics Monitoring Program (UATMP) were analyzed to obtain a general understanding of these sources of variability and then provide recommendations for managing the data uncertainties of a national network. The results indicate that environmental variability, in particular temporal, comprises most of the overall variability observed in the UATMP data. However, at lower ambient levels (on the order of 0.1–0.5 ppbv or lower) environmental variability tends to dissipate and monitoring error takes over, most notably analytical error. Overall, the results suggest that common techniques in ambient air toxics monitoring for carbonyls and volatile organic compounds may satisfy many of the primary objectives of a national air toxics monitoring network.     

Sources of fine particulate species in ambient air over lake Champlain Basin, VT

This study is a part of an ongoing investigation of the types and locations of emission sources that contribute fine particulate air contaminants to Underhill, VT. The air quality monitoring data used for this study are from the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments network for the period of 2001-2003 for the Underhill site. The main source-receptor modeling techniques used are the positive matrix factorization (PMF) and potential source contribution function (PSCF). This new study is intended as a comparison to a previous study of the 1988-1995 Underhill data that successfully revealed a total of 11 types of emission sources with significant contributions to this rural site. This new study has identified a total of nine sources: nitrate-rich secondary aerosol, wood smoke, East Coast oil combustion, automobile emission, metal working, soil/dust, sulfur-rich aerosol type I, sulfur-rich aerosol type II, and sea salt/road salt. Furthermore, the mass contributions from the PMF identified sources that correspond with sampling days with either good or poor visibility were analyzed to seek possible correlations. It has been shown that sulfur-rich aerosol type I, nitrate aerosol, and automobile emission are the most important contributors to visibility degradation. Soil/dust and sea salt/road salt also have an added effect.     

Measurements of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde in the atmosphere of Mexico City

Ambient levels of carbonyls were measured at the University of Mexico campus, Mexico City. Only formaldehyde and acetaldehyde were measured, since aldehydes with higher molecular weight were not detected. The most abundant aldehyde was formaldehyde, with an overall ratio CH3CHO/H2CO of 0.43. Maximum concentrations occurred for formaldehyde at 10:00 h while for acetaldehyde at 8:00 h. Comparing the concentration measured in this work with those in urban areas it was found that the formaldehyde and acetaldehyde levels in Mexico City are among the highest reported in the literature.     

Sampling of nitrates in ambient air

Methods for the measurement of nitric acid, particulate nitrate and total inorganic nitrate (i.e. HNO₃ plus particulate nitrate) are compared using atmospheric samples from the Los Angeles Basin. Nitric acid was measured by (1) the nitrate collected on nylon or NaCl-impregnated cellulose filters after removal of particulate matter with Teflon prefilters, (2) long-path Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) performed by a collaborating investigator, and (3) the difference between total inorganic nitrate (TIN) and particulate nitrate (PN). TIN was measured by the sum of the nitrate collected with a Teflon prefilter and nylon or NaCl-impregnated after-filter. PN was measured by the nitrate able to penetrate a diffusion dénuder coated to remove acidic gases (e.g. HNO₃). Losses of nitrate from Teflon prefilters were determined by comparing the nitrate retained by these filters to the nitrate penetrating the acid gas denuder. TIN and the nitrate collected with glass fiber filters were compared to assess the origin of the artifact particulate nitrate on the latter.Nitric acid measurements using nylon or NaCl-impregnated after-filters were substantially higher than those by the difference technique. This correlated with losses of nitrate from the Teflon prefilters, which exceeded 50 % at high ambient temperature and low relative humidity. Nitric acid by the difference method exceeded that by FTIR by, on average, 20 %. Thus errors inferred in HNO₃ measurements by comparison to the difference measurements are considered minimum values. The high values for HNO₃ by the difference method are consistent with the partial loss of PN in the acid gas denuder. However, no loss of 0.1 μm to 3 μm diameter NH₄NO₃ particles was observed. Thus, if significant, such loss is restricted to coarse particulate nitrate. Heating the filter samplers was shown to increase sampling errors. Nitrate results obtained in short-term, low volume sampling with Gelman A glass fiber filters approximated those with the TIN samplers. Accordingly, these glass fiber filters retained essentially all the gaseous nitric acid sampled.     

Investigation and modeling of diurnal variation in suburban ambient formaldehyde concentration

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Formaldehyde (HCHO) is a naturally occurring compound found in ambient air which can induce cancer and sick-building syndrome. It plays an important...     

Particle-bound PAH content in ambient air

Ambient air samples from a traffic intersection, an urban site and a petrochemical-industrial site (PCI) were collected by using several dry deposition plates, two Microorifice uniform deposited impactors (MOUDIs), one Noll Rotary Impactor (NRI) and several PS-1 (General Metal Work) samplers from March 1994 to June 1995 in southern Taiwan, to characterize the atmospheric particle-bound PAH content of these three areas. Twenty-one individual polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were analyzed primarily by using a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (GC/MS). In general, the sub-micron particles have a higher PAH content. This is due to the fact that soot from combustion sources consists primarily of fine particles and has a high PAH content. In addition, a smaller particle has a higher specific surface area and therefore may contain more organic carbon, which allows for more PAH adsorption. For a particle size range between 0.31 and 3.2 microm, both Urban/Traffic and PCI/Traffic ratios of particle-bound total-PAH content have the lowest values, ranging from 0.25 to 0.28 (mean = 0.26) and from 0.07 to 0.13 (mean = 0.10), respectively. This indicates that, during the accumulation process, the PAH mass shifted from a particle phase to a gas phase, or the particles aggregated with lower PAH-content particles, resulting in a reduction in particle-bound PAH content. By using the particle size distribution data, the dry deposition model in this study can provide a good prediction for the PAH content of dry deposition materials. In general, lower molecular weight PAHs had a larger fraction of dry deposition flux contributed by the gas phase; for 2-ring PAH (50.4, 46.3 and 28.4%), 3-ring PAHs (15.2, 15.4 and 11.7%) and 4-ring PAHs (13.0, 3.60 and 5.01%) for the traffic intersection, urban and PCI sites, respectively. For higher molecular weight PAHs-5-ring, 6-ring and 7-ring PAHs-their cumulation fraction (F%) of dry deposition flux contributed by the gas phase was lower than 3.26%. At the traffic intersection, urban and PCI sites, the mass median diameter of dry deposition materials (MMD(F)) of individual PAHs was between 25.3 and 49.6 microm, between 27.6 and 43.9 microm, and between 19.1 and 41.9 microm, respectively. This is due to the fact that PAH dry-deposition primarily resulted from gravitational settling of the coarse particulates (> 10 microm).     

fluoride concentrations in the ambient air

The body of the information presented in this paper is of general interest to those concerned with air quality. This paper reports data for ambient atmospheric concentrations of water-soluble fluorides determined in samples of suspended particulate matter collected on glass-fiber filters by the National Air Surveillance Network. Data for over 12,000 samples collected in calendar years 1966, 1967, and 1968 are examined. The purpose of the examination of the data is to give an estimation of current air quality with respect to fluoride content.

The samples are extracted with pure boiling water, and the fluoride concentration of the extracts measured using a fluoride-ion selective electrode. The data engendered are tabulated on an annual basis, and a table is presented summarizing the results. Comparative data will be presented showing the distribution of urban and non-urban stations that exhibit various specified fluoride levels. The results show that the fluoride content in the majority of the samples is below the minimum detectable amount of 0.05 µgF/m³. Conclusions that can be drawn include the observations that: few of the urban samples contain over 1.00 µg/m ³ of fluoride, very few of all samples exceeded 1.00 µ/m³ of fluoride, and no non-urban sample contained over 0.16 µg/m³ of fluoride. It was also concluded that only in rare instances would the fluoride concentrations at the sites sampled be in excess of published standards.     

Air toxics in ambient air of Delhi

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are major group of air pollutants which play critical role in atmospheric chemistry. It contributes to toxic oxidants which are harmful to ecosystem human health and atmosphere. Data on levels of VOCs in developing countries is lacking. In India information at target VOCs as defined in USEPA compendium method TO-14 is almost totally lacking. The present work deals with estimation of target VOCs at 15 locations in five categories namely residential, industrial, commercial, traffic intersections and petrol refueling stations in Delhi, the capital of India. The monitoring was carried out during peak hours in morning and evening each month for a year in 2001. Ambient air was adsorbed on adsorbent tubes, thermally desorbed and analyzed on GC–MS. The results show that levels of VOCs are high and stress the need for regular monitoring programme of VOCs in urban environment.     

Derivation of ambient water quality criteria for formaldehyde.

This paper describes the derivation of aquatic life water quality criteria for formaldehyde, developed in accordance with United States Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA's) Guidelines for Deriving Numerical National Water Quality Criteria for the Protection of Aquatic Organisms and Their Uses. The initial step in deriving water quality criteria was to conduct an extensive literature search to assemble available acute and chronic toxicity data for formaldehyde. The literature search identified a large amount of information on acute toxicity of formaldehyde to fish and aquatic invertebrates. These acute data were evaluated with respect to data quality, and poor quality or uncertain data were excluded from the data base. The resulting data base met the USEPA requirements for criteria derivation by having data for at least one species in at least eight different taxonomic families. One shortcoming of the literature-derived data base, however, was that few studies involved analytical confirmation of nominal formaldehyde concentrations and reported toxicity endpoints. Also, there were relatively few data on chronic toxicity. The acute toxicity data set consisted of data for 12 species of fish, 3 species of amphibians, and 11 species of invertebrates. These data were sufficient, according to USEPA guidelines, to calculate a final acute value (FAV) of 9.15 mg/l, and an acute aquatic life water quality criterion (one-half the FAV) of 4.58 mg/l. A final acute-chronic ratio (ACR) was calculated using available chronic toxicity data and USEPA-recommended conservative default assumptions to account for missing data. Using the FAV and the final ACR (5.69), the final chronic aquatic life water quality criterion was determined to be 1.61 mg/l.     

An intercomparison of formaldehyde measurement techniques at ambient concentration

A study was conducted to evaluate five techniques for determining ambient formaldehyde concentrations. One technique used a spectroscopic determination, and the other four techniques used derivatization followed by fluorometric analysis or high-performance liquid chromatography with detection by u.v. absorption. Formaldehyde was generated by two techniques. In the first technique, zero air was bubbled through a solution of aqueous formaldehyde to produce gas-phase formaldehyde. Various compounds serving as possible interferences were added singly or in combination to these air mixtures. In the second technique, formaldehyde was generated as a product from controlled irradiations of hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides in a smog chamber operated in a dynamic mode. The study was conducted as a blind intercomparison with no knowledge by the participants of the HCHO concentrations or the interferences added.The data from each of the techniques were compared against mean values in each sampling period. For formaldehyde in zero air, average deviations for each of the techniques ranged between 15 and 30%. At a formaldehyde concentration of 10 ppb, each technique showed no evidence for interferences by O₃ (190 ppbv), NO₂ (300 ppbv), SO₂ (20 ppbv), and H₂O₂ (7 ppbv). The agreement for formaldehyde concentrations measured for the photochemical mixtures was similar to that of the mixtures in zero air.Ambient measurements were also performed on three evenings and for one 36-h period. Ambient formaldehyde concentrations ranged from 1 to 10 ppbv. Ambient H₂O₂ measurements were also performed. A strong correlation in the diurnal concentration profile for formaldehyde and H₂O₂ was observed over the 36-h period.     

Characterisation of urban inhalation exposures to benzene,formaldehyde and acetaldehyde in the European Union

BACKGROUND, AIM AND SCOPE: All across Europe, people live and work in indoor environments. On average, people spend around 90% of their time indoors (homes, workplaces, cars and public transport means, etc.) and are exposed to a complex mixture of pollutants at concentration levels that are often several times higher than outdoors. These pollutants are emitted by different sources indoors and outdoors and include volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbonyls (aldehydes and ketones) and other chemical substances often adsorbed on particles. Moreover, legal obligations opposed by legislations, such as the European Union's General Product Safety Directive (GPSD) and Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), increasingly require detailed understanding of where and how chemical substances are used throughout their life-cycle and require better characterisation of their emissions and exposure. This information is essential to be able to control emissions from sources aiming at a reduction of adverse health effects. Scientifically sound human risk assessment procedures based on qualitative and quantitative human exposure information allows a better characterisation of population exposures to chemical substances. In this context, the current paper compares inhalation exposures to three health-based EU priority substances, i.e. benzene, formaldehyde and acetaldehyde. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Distributions of urban population inhalation exposures, indoor and outdoor concentrations were created on the basis of measured AIRMEX data in 12 European cities and compared to results from existing European population exposure studies published within the scientific literature. By pooling all EU city personal exposure, indoor and outdoor concentration means, representative EU city cumulative frequency distributions were created. Population exposures were modelled with a microenvironment model using the time spent and concentrations in four microenvironments, i.e. indoors at home and at work, outdoors at work and in transit, as input parameters. Pooled EU city inhalation exposures were compared to modelled population exposures. The contributions of these microenvironments to the total daily inhalation exposure of formaldehyde, benzene and acetaldehyde were estimated. Inhalation exposures were compared to the EU annual ambient benzene air quality guideline (5 microg/m3-to be met by 2010) and the recommended (based on the INDEX project) 30-min average formaldehyde limit value (30 microg/m3). RESULTS: Indoor inhalation exposure contributions are much higher compared to the outdoor or in-transit microenvironment contributions, accounting for almost 99% in the case of formaldehyde. The highest in-transit exposure contribution was found for benzene; 29.4% of the total inhalation exposure contribution. Comparing the pooled AIRMEX EU city inhalation exposures with the modelled exposures, benzene, formaldehyde and acetaldehyde exposures are 5.1, 17.3 and 11.8 microg/m3 vs. 5.1, 20.1 and 10.2 microg/m3, respectively. Together with the fact that a dominating fraction of time is spent indoors (>90%), the total inhalation exposure is mostly driven by the time spent indoors. DISCUSSION: The approach used in this paper faced three challenges concerning exposure and time-activity data, comparability and scarce or missing in-transit data inducing careful interpretation of the results. The results obtained by AIRMEX underline that many European urban populations are still exposed to elevated levels of benzene and formaldehyde in the inhaled air. It is still likely that the annual ambient benzene air quality guideline of 5 microg/m3 in the EU and recommended formaldehyde 30-min average limit value of 30 microg/m3 are exceeded by a substantial part of populations living in urban areas. Considering multimedia and multi-pathway exposure to acetaldehyde, the biggest exposure contribution was found to be related to dietary behaviour rather than to inhalation. CONCLUSIONS: In the present study, inhalation exposures of urban populations were assessed on the basis of novel and existing exposure data. The indoor residential microenvironment contributed most to the total daily urban population inhalation exposure. The results presented in this paper suggest that a significant part of the populations living in European cities exceed the annual ambient benzene air quality guideline of 5 microg/m3 in the EU and recommended (INDEX project) formaldehyde 30-min average limit value of 30 microg/m3. RECOMMENDATIONS AND PERSPECTIVES: To reduce exposures and consequent health effects, adequate measures must be taken to diminish emissions from sources such as materials and products that especially emit benzene and formaldehyde in indoor air. In parallel, measures can be taken aiming at reducing the outdoor pollution contribution indoors. Besides emission reduction, mechanisms to effectively monitor and manage the indoor air quality should be established. These mechanisms could be developed by setting up appropriate EU indoor air guidelines.     

Pilot study of personal, indoor and outdoor exposure to benzene, formaldehyde and acetaldehyde

There is a lack of data for health risk assessment of long term personal exposure to certain ubiquitous air pollutants present particularly in urban atmospheres. The relationship between ambient background concentrations and personal exposure is often unknown. A pilot campaign to measure indoor concentrations, outdoor concentrations and personal exposure to benzene, formaldehyde and acetaldehyde was conducted in a medium sized French town. A strong contribution to total personal exposure was observed from indoor sources, especially for formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, suggesting that indoor sources are dominant for these compounds. For benzene, the average personal exposure exceeded a 10 μgm^?3 limit value, although this was not the case for the ambient background concentration. For formaldehyde, the limit level was also exceeded. Observations suggest that true personal exposure cannot be determined directly from measurements pertaining from fixed ambient background monitoring stations. It is hoped that this will be taken into consideration by the bodies responsible for monitoring air pollution and the future European Air Quality Directive.     

Personal exposure levels and microenvironmental concentrations of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde in the Helsinki metropolitan area, Finland

Personal 48-hr exposures to formaldehyde and acetaldehyde of 15 randomly selected participants were measured during the summer/autumn of 1997 using Sep-Pak DNPH-Silica cartridges as a part of the EXPOLIS study in Helsinki, Finland. In addition to personal exposures, simultaneous measurements of microenvironmental concentrations were conducted at each participant's residence (indoor and outdoor) and workplace. Mean personal exposure levels were 21.4 ppb for formaldehyde and 7.9 ppb for acetaldehyde. Personal exposures were systematically lower than indoor residential concentrations for both compounds, and ambient air concentrations were lower than both indoor residential concentrations and personal exposure levels. Mean workplace concentrations of both compounds were lower than mean indoor residential concentrations. Correlation between personal exposures and indoor residential concentrations was statistically significant for both compounds. This indicated that indoor residential concentrations of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde are a better estimate of personal exposures than are concentrations in ambient air. In addition, a time-weighted exposure model did not improve the estimation of personal exposures above that obtained using indoor residential concentrations as a surrogate for personal exposures. Correlation between formaldehyde and acetaldehyde was statistically significant in outdoor microenvironments, suggesting that both compounds have similar sources and sinks in ambient urban air.     

汽车内空气甲醛污染状况及其影响因素分析

为了解车内空气甲醛污染状况及其影响因素,随机测定200辆私家轿车车内空气甲醛浓度、温度和湿度,同时通过问卷调查获得车型、车龄、车内装饰物和关窗时间等基本情况.检测可知,车内空气甲醛几何均数为0.030 mg/m 3 ,95%可信区间为0.027～0.033 mg/m 3 .参照《室内空气质量标准》(GB/T 18883-2002)规定为0.100 mg/m 3 ,超标率为1.5%.车内空气甲醛对数质量浓度(y)与车龄(X 1 )、车内温度(X 2 )、汽车档次(X 3 )、车内温度×关窗时间(X 4 )有关,回归方程为y=-2.088 5-0.096 6X 1 0.019 9X2 0.049 5X 3 0.002 2X 4 .表明车内甲醛污染主要存在于车龄不足半年、关窗时间超过3 h以上的车辆,降低车内温度可有效控制车内甲醛污染.