The Health Risk and Source Assessment of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the Soil of Industrial Cities in India.

Industrial areas play an important role in the urban ecosystem. Industrial site environmental quality is linked to human health. Soil samples from two different cities in India, Jamshedpur and Amravati, were collected and analyzed to assess the sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in industrial areas and their potential health risks. The total concentration of 16 PAHs in JSR (Jamshedpur) varied from 1662.90 to 10,879.20 ng/g, whereas the concentration ranged from 1456.22 to 5403.45 ng/g in the soil of AMT (Amravati). The PAHs in the samples were dominated by four-ring PAHs, followed by five-ring PAHs, and a small percentage of two-ring PAHs. The ILCR (incremental lifetime cancer risk) of the soil of Amravati was lower compared to that of Jamshedpur. The risk due to PAH exposure for children and adults was reported to be in the order of ingestion > dermal contact > inhalation while for adolescents it was dermal contact > ingestion > inhalation in Jamshedpur. In contrast, in the soil of Amravati, the PAH exposure path risk for children and adolescents were the same and showed the following order: dermal contact > ingestion > inhalation while for the adulthood age group, the order was ingestion > dermal contact > inhalation. The diagnostic ratio approach was used to assess the sources of PAHs in various environmental media. The PAH sources were mainly dominated by coal and petroleum/oil combustion. As both the study areas belong to industrial sites, the significant sources were industrial emissions, followed by traffic emissions, coal combustion for domestic livelihood, as well as due to the geographical location of the sampling sites. The results of this investigation provide novel information for contamination evaluation and human health risk assessment in PAH-contaminated sites in India.

Emission reduction of black carbon and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

The global pandemic COVID-19 necessitated various responses throughout the world, including social distancing, use of mask, and complete lockdown. While these measures helped prevent the community spread of the virus, the resulting environmental benefits of lockdown remained mostly unnoticed. While many studies documented improvements in air quality index, very few have explored the reduction in black carbon (BC) aerosols and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) concentrations due to lockdown. In this study, we evaluated the changes in concentrations of BC, PAHs, and PM2.5 before and during the lockdown period. Our results show that lockdown resulted in a significant reduction in concentrations of these pollutants. The average mass concentration of BC, PAHs, and PM2.5 before the lockdown was 11.71 ± 3.33 µgm-3, 108.71 ± 27.77 ngm-3, and 147.65 ± 41.77 µgm-3, respectively. During the lockdown period, the concentration of BC, PAHs, and PM2.5 was 2.46 ± 0.95 µgm-3, 23.19 ± 11.21 ngm-3, and 50.31 ± 11.95 µgm-3, respectively. The diagnostic ratio analysis for source apportionment showed changes in the emission sources before and during the lockdown. The primary sources of PAHs emissions before the lockdown were biomass, coal combustion, and vehicular traffic, while during the lockdown, PAHs emissions were primarily from the combustion of biomass and coal. Similarly, before the lockdown, the BC mass concentrations came from fossil-fuel and wood-burning, while during the lockdown period, most of the BC mass concentration came from wood-burning. Human health risk assessment demonstrated a significant reduction in risk due to inhalation of PAHs and BC-contaminated air.

COVID-19 lockdowns reduce the Black carbon and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons of the Asian atmosphere: source apportionment and health hazard evaluation.

ABSTRACT: The entire world is affected by Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which is spreading worldwide in a short time. India is one of the countries which is affected most, therefore, the Government of India has implemented several lockdowns in the entire country from April 25, 2020. We studied air pollutants (i.e., PM2.5, Black Carbon (BC), and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) level, and observed significantly sudden reduced. In India, most of the anthropogenic activities completely stopped. Therefore, we studied the levels of BC, PAHs and PM2.5 concentrations, their sources apportion, and health risk assessment during normal days, lockdown (from lockdown 1.0 to lockdown 4.0) and unlock down 1.0 situation at Sakchi, Jamshedpur city. It was observed that lockdowns and unlock down situations BC, PAHs and PM2.5 concentrations were significantly lower than regular days. We applied the advanced air mass back trajectory (AMBT) model to locate airborne particulate matter dispersal from different directions to strengthen the new result. The diagnostic ratio analyses of BC shows that wood burning contribution was too high during the lockdown situations. However, during normal days, the PAHs source profile was dedicated toward biomass, coal burning, and vehicle emission as primary sources of PAHs. During the lockdown period, emission from biomass and coal burning was a significant contributor to PAHs. The summaries of health risk assessment of BC quantified an equal number of passively smoked cigarettes (PSC) for an individual situation was studied. This study focuses on the overall climate impact of pandemic situations.

Health Risk Assessment, Composition, and Distribution of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Drinking Water of Southern Jharkhand, East India.

The studies on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) occurrence, distribution, health risk, and composition in drinking water are limited in India and worldwide. The main objective of this study was to find the contaminant sources, composition, health risk, and distribution of USEPA's 16 priority pollutant PAHs in the drinking water samples collected between July 2019 to September 2019 from six districts of Southern Jharkhand. The Σ16PAHs mean ± standard deviation [SD] concentration values were ordered as East Singhbhum (ES) (21.5 ± 14.8 ng L-1) > West Singhbhum (WS) (16.57 ± 13.21 ng L-1) > Saraikela Kharsawan (SK) (11.48 ± 9.92 ng L-1) > Khunti (KH) (10.32 ± 9.09 ng L-1) > Simdega (SM) (9.96 ± 7.85 ng L-1) > Gumla (GU) (9.41 ± 8.63 ng L-1). The results show that ES and WS districts' groundwater samples were more contaminated by the PAHs, which may be attributed to the presence of many small-, medium-, and large-scale industries and high vehicular density in these districts. The concentrations of lower molecular weight ring (3-rings) and middle molecular weight ring (4-rings) PAHs were dominant throughout all drinking samples. The concentration of the 3-ring PAH Anthracene and 4-ring PAH Fluoranthene were dominant in all districts. The molecular ratios suggested that the potential sources of PAHs are fuel combustion and coal, grass, and wood burning. Risk assessment shows that the incremental lifetime cancer risk and risk index (RI) were ranged from 0.02 × 10-10 to 4.93 × 10-10 for children and 0.01 × 10-10 to 2.98 × 10-10 for adults. The RI values for seven carcinogenic PAHs were 8.83 × 10-10 for children and 7.38 × 10-10 for adults. Although the carcinogenic risks were within the permissible values, chronic exposure to PAHs through the ingestion of drinking water could still be a human health concern.

Characteristics, toxicity, source identification and seasonal variation of atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons over East India.

Atmospheric PM2.5-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were analyzed over urban and rural sites during January to December 2018. Total annual average concentration of PM2.5 was 74.41 ± 24.96 µg/m3 over urban and 52.03 ± 13.11 µg/m3 over rural site during study time. The annual average concentration of PM2.5 over urban and rural atmospheres were found approximately twice in urban and found also higher over rural site, with respect to National Ambient Air Quality (NAAQ) standard of 40 µg/m3 for PM2.5 concentration. The annual concentration of PAHs was 750.80 ± 19.49 ng/m3 over urban, and, over rural, it was 559.59 ± 17.56 ng/m3. The seasonal variation of concentration of PAHs was in order of winter > post-monsoon > summer > monsoon. The most predominant PAHs were IcP (17.21%), B(ghi) P(15.22%), BkF (11.60%), DBahA (11.34%) and BbF (10.91%) to the total PAH concentration over urban site; over rural site, most predominant PAHs were IcP (16.02%), B(ghi)P, (15.63%), BkF (11.46%), DBahA (11.12%) and BbF (8.99%) of total PAHs. DBahA concentration was contributed approximately 46% carcinogenicity over both urban and rural sites, and BaP contributes 33.56% carcinogenicity over urban site and 34.62% carcinogenicity over rural site of total PAH samples. The Excess Life Time Cancer Risk (ELCR) values over urban were found at acceptable limit 10-6-10-4 given by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Over rural site, the ELCR value was found near about acceptable limit. Diagnostic ratio analysis demonstrated that major sources of PAHs were pyrogenic sources and vehicular emission over study. Air parcel through trajectories over study site also contributed in PAH concentration.