Pollution characteristics of ambient volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the southeast coastal cities of China

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 20; no. 4; pp. 2603 - 2615
• Main Authors: Tong, Lei, Liao, Xu, Chen, Jinsheng, Xiao, Hang, Xu, Lingling, Zhang, Fuwang, Niu, Zhenchuan, Yu, Jianshuan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.04.2013; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Air Pollutants - analysis; Air Pollutants - chemistry; Air pollution; Air Pollution - analysis; Air Pollution - statistics & numerical data; Air quality; Aquatic Pollution; Aromatic compounds; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Benzene; Chemical Industry; China; Cities; Coastal; Dichloromethane; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Emissions; Environment; Environmental assessment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental Monitoring; Environmental risk; Exhausts; Extraction and Processing Industry; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; Halogenated hydrocarbons; Health risks; Hydrocarbons; Hydrocarbons, Aromatic - analysis; Hydrocarbons, Aromatic - chemistry; Industrial development; Investigations; Isopropyl alcohol; n-Hexane; Organic compounds; Outdoor air quality; Ozone; Petrochemicals; Pollutants; Pollution abatement; Precipitation; Quality control; Research Article; Risk assessment; Seasonal variations; Seasons; Spatial distribution; Spatio-Temporal Analysis; Spectrometry; Studies; Toluene; Urban areas; Urbanization; Vehicle Emissions; VOCs; Volatile organic compounds; Volatile Organic Compounds - analysis; Volatile Organic Compounds - chemistry; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; China; Spatial distributions; Ozone formation potentials; Southeast coastal cities of China; VOCs; Seasonal variations; BTEX
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-012-1187-3

With the rapid urbanization, the southeast coastal cities of China are facing increasing air pollution in the past decades. Large emissions of VOCs from vehicles and petrochemical factories have contributed greatly to the local air quality deterioration. Investigating the pollution characteristics of VOCs is of great significance to the environmental risk assessment and air quality improvement. Ambient VOC samples were collected simultaneously from nine coastal cities of southeast China using the Tedlar bags, and were subsequently preprocessed and analyzed using a cryogenic preconcentrator and a gas chromatography–mass spectrometry system, respectively. VOC compositions, spatial distributions, seasonal variations and ozone formation potentials (OPFs) were discussed. Results showed that methylene chloride, toluene, isopropyl alcohol and n -hexane were most abundant species, and oxygenated compounds, aromatics and halogenated hydrocarbons were most abundant chemical classes (62.5–95.6 % of TVOCs). Both industrial and vehicular exhausts might contribute greatly to the VOC emissions. The VOC levels in the southeast coastal cities of China were sufficiently high (e.g., 6.5 μg m −3 for benzene) to pose a health risk to local people. A more serious pollution state was found in the southern cities of the study region, while higher VOC levels were usually observed in winter. The B/T ratio (0.26 ± 0.09) was lower than the typical ratio (ca. 0.6) for roadside samples, while the B/E (1.6–7.6) and T/E (7.2–26.8) ratios were higher than other cities around the world, which indicated a unique emission profile in the study region. Besides, analysis on ozone formation potentials (OFPs) indicated that toluene was the most important species in ozone production with the accountabilities for total OFPs of 22.6 to 59.6 %.