Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Characterization and risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in urban atmospheric Particulate of Tehran, Iran

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this study, atmospheric concentrations of particulate-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Tehran megacity were determined to investigate the concentration, distribution, and sources of PAHs in PM10. The health risk from exposure to airborne BaPeq through inhalation pathway was also assessed. Toxic equivalency factors (TEFs) approach was used for quantitative risk estimate, and incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) was calculated. PM10 samples were collected at ten sampling locations during the summer 2013 and winter 2014 by using two independent methods of field sampling. The PM10 concentration in winter (89.55 ± 15.56 μg m−3) was 1.19 times higher than that in summer (75.42 ± 14.93 μg m−3). Sixteen PAHs were measured with the total average concentrations of PAHs ranged from 56.98 ± 15.91 to 110.35 ± 57.31 ng m−3 in summer and from 125.87 ± 79.02 to 171.25 ± 73.94 ng m−3 in winter which were much higher than concentrations measured in most similar studies conducted around the world. Molecular diagnostic ratios were used to identify PAH emission sources. The results indicated that gasoline-driven vehicles are the major sources of PAHs in the study area. Risk analysis showed that the mean and 90 % probability estimated inhalation ILCRs were 7.85 × 10−6 and 16.78 × 10−6, respectively. Results of a sensitivity analysis indicated that BaP concentration and cancer slope factor (CSF) contributed most to effect on ILCR mean.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Akyüz M, Çabuk H (2010) Gas–particle partitioning and seasonal variation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the atmosphere of Zonguldak, Turkey. Sci Total Environ 408:5550–5558

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alves C, Pio C, Duarte A (2001) Composition of extractable organic matter of air particles from rural and urban Portuguese areas. Atmos Environ 35:5485–5496

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Amodio M, Caselli M, de Gennaro G, Tutino M (2009) Particulate PAHs in two urban areas of southern Italy: impact of the sources, meteorological and background conditions on air quality. Environ Res 109:812–820

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Armstrong B, Hutchinson E, Unwin J, Fletcher T (2004) Lung cancer risk after exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: a review and meta-analysis. Environ Health Perspect 112:970–978

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bahry PS, Zakaria MP, Bin Abdullah AM, Abdullah DK, Sakari M, Chandru K, Shahbazi A (2009) Forensic characterization of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and hopanes in aerosols from peninsular Malaysia. Environ Forensic 10:240–252

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bozlaker A, Muezzinoglu A, Odabasi M (2008) Atmospheric concentrations, dry deposition and air–soil exchange of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in an industrial region in turkey. J Hazard Mater 153:1093–1102

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Burmaster DE, Crouch EA (1997) Lognormal distributions for body weight as a function of age for males and females in the united states, 1976–1980. Risk Anal 17:499–505

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Callén M, López J, Iturmendi A, Mastral A (2013) Nature and sources of particle associated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in the atmospheric environment of an urban area. Environ Pollut 183:166–174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cecinato A, Marino F, Di Filippo P, Lepore L, Possanzini M (1999) Distribution of n-alkanes, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons and nitrated polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons between the fine and coarse fractions of inhalable atmospheric particulates. J Chromatogr A 846:255–264

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen S-C, Liao C-M (2006) Health risk assessment on human exposed to environmental polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons pollution sources. Sci Total Environ 366:112–123

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Collins J, Brown J, Dawson S, Marty M (1991) Risk assessment for benzo [a] pyrene. Regul Toxicol Pharmacol 13:170–184

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • del Rosario Sienra M, Rosazza NG, Préndez M (2005) Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their molecular diagnostic ratios in urban atmospheric respirable particulate matter. Atmos Res 75(4):267–281

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Esen F, Tasdemir Y, Vardar N (2008) Atmospheric concentrations of PAHs, their possible sources and gas-to-particle partitioning at a residential site of bursa, turkey. Atmos Res 88:243–255

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fang G-C, Huang J-H, Huang Y-L (2010) Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon pollutants in the Asian atmosphere during 2001 to 2009. Environ Forensic 11:207–215

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fleiss JL (2011) Design and analysis of clinical experiments. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Goudarzi G, Naddafi K, Jonidi A, Yunesian M, Nabizadeh R, Jabbari H (2009) Data validity of PM10 concentration resulting from Air quality monitoring network in Tehran. World Appl Sci J 7:239–244

    Google Scholar 

  • Guo H, Lee S, Ho K, Wang X, Zou S (2003) Particle-associated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in urban air of hong Kong. Atmos Environ 37:5307–5317

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jamhari AA, Sahani M, Latif MT, Chan KM, Tan HS, Khan MF, Mohd Tahir N (2014) Concentration and source identification of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in PM10 of urban, industrial and semi-urban areas in Malaysia. Atmos Environ 86:16–27

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kamani H, Hoseini M, Safari GH, Jaafari J, Mahvi AH (2014) Study of trace elements in wet atmospheric precipitation in Tehran, Iran. Environ Monit Assess 186(8):5059–5067

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Katsoyiannis A, Terzi E, Cai Q-Y (2007) On the use of PAH molecular diagnostic ratios in sewage sludge for the understanding of the PAH sources. Is this use appropriate? Chemosphere 69:1337–1339

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kavouras IG, Lawrence J, Koutrakis P, Stephanou EG, Oyola P (1999) Measurement of particulate aliphatic and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons in Santiago de Chile: source reconciliation and evaluation of sampling artifacts. Atmos Environ 33:4977–4986

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kulkarni P, Venkataraman C (2000) Atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Mumbai, India. Atmos Environ 34:2785–2790

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li Z, Sandau CD, Romanoff LC, Caudill SP, Sjodin A, Needham LL, Patterson DG Jr (2008) Concentration and profile of 22 urinary polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon metabolites in the US population. Environ Res 107:320–331

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liaud C, Millet M, Le Calvé S (2015) An analytical method coupling accelerated solvent extraction and HPLC-fluorescence for the quantification of particle–bound PAHs in indoor Air sampled with a 3-stages cascade impactor. Talanta 131:386–394

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu S, Tao S, Liu W, Dou H, Liu Y, Zhao J, Little MG, Tian Z, Wang J, Wang L (2008) Seasonal and spatial occurrence and distribution of atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in rural and urban areas of the north Chinese plain. Environ Pollut 156:651–656

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Manoli E, Voutsa D, Samara C (2002) Chemical characterization and source identification/apportionment of fine and coarse air particles in Thessaloniki, Greece. Atmos Environ 36:949–961

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Manoli E, Kouras A, Samara C (2004) Profile analysis of ambient and source emitted particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from three sites in northern Greece. Chemosphere 56:867–878

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mantis J, Chaloulakou A, Samara C (2005) PM10-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the greater area of Athens, Greece. Chemosphere 59:593–604

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Montgomery AA, Graham A, Evans PH, Fahey T (2002) Inter-rater agreement in the scoring of abstracts submitted to a primary care research conference. BMC Health Serv Res 2:8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moya J, Phillips L, Schuda L, Wood P, Diaz A, Lee R, Clickner R, Birch RJ, Adjei N, Blood P (2011) Exposure factors handbook, 2011th edn. US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Naddafi K, Hassanvand MS, Yunesian M, Momeniha F, Nabizadeh R, Faridi S, Gholampour A (2012) Health impact assessment of air pollution in megacity of Tehran, Iran. J Environ Health Sci Eng 9:28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norramit P, Cheevaporn V, Itoh N, Tanaka K (2005) Characterization and carcinogenic risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the respirable fraction of airborne particles in the bangkok metropolitan area. J Health Sci 51:437–446

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Okuda T, Kumata H, Zakaria MP, Naraoka H, Ishiwatari R, Takada H (2002) Source identification of Malaysian atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons nearby forest fires using molecular and isotopic compositions. Atmos Environ 36:611–618

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Okuda T, Okamoto K, Tanaka S, Shen Z, Han Y, Huo Z (2010) Measurement and source identification of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the aerosol in Xi’an, china, by using automated column chromatography and applying positive matrix factorization (PMF). Sci Total Environ 408:1909–1914

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Omar NYM, Mon TC, Rahman NA, Abas M (2006) Distributions and health risks of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in atmospheric aerosols of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Sci Total Environ 369:76–81

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Omar NYM, Abas MRB, Rahman NA, Tahir NM, Rushdi AI, Simoneit BR (2007) Levels and distributions of organic source tracers in air and roadside dust particles of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Environ Geol 52:1485–1500

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Park SU, Kim JG, Jeong MJ, Song BJ (2011) Source identification of atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in industrial complex using diagnostic ratios and multivariate factor analysis. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 60:576–589

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Qu C, Li B, Wu H, Wang S, Giesy JP (2015) Multi-pathway assessment of human health risk posed by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Environ Geochem Health 37(3):587–601

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ramírez N, Cuadras A, Rovira E, Maria Marcé R, Borrull F (2011) Risk assessment related to atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in gas and particle phases near industrial sites. Environ Health Perspect 119:1110–1116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberto J, Lee WY, Campos-Díaz SI (2009) Soil-borne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in El Paso, Texas: analysis of a potential problem in the united states/Mexico border region. J Hazard Mater 163:946–958

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rogge WF, Hildemann LM, Mazurek MA, Cass GR, Simoneit BR (1993) Sources of fine organic aerosol. 2. Noncatalyst and catalyst-equipped automobiles and heavy-duty diesel trucks. Environ Sci Technol 27:636–651

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sarkar S, Khillare P (2013) Profile of PAHs in the inhalable particulate fraction: source apportionment and associated health risks in a tropical megacity. Environ Monit Assess 185:1199–1213

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sharma H, Jain V, Khan ZH (2007) Characterization and source identification of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the urban environment of Delhi. Chemosphere 66:302–310

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tobiszewski M, Namieśnik J (2012) PAH diagnostic ratios for the identification of pollution emission sources. Environ Pollut 162:110–119

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wan X, Chen J, Tian F, Sun W, Yang F, Saiki K (2006) Source apportionment of PAHs in atmospheric particulates of Dalian: factor analysis with nonnegative constraints and emission inventory analysis. Atmos Environ 40:6666–6675

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang W, Simonich S, Giri B, Chang Y, Zhang Y, Jia Y, Tao S, Wang R, Wang B, Li W (2011) Atmospheric concentrations and air–soil gas exchange of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in remote, rural village and urban areas of Beijing–Tianjin region, north china. Sci Total Environ 409:2942–2950

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang Y, Hu L, Lu G (2014) Health risk analysis of atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in big cities of china. Ecotoxicology 23:584–588

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Watson JG, Chow JC, Chen L-WA, Kohl SD, Casuccio GS, Lersch TL, Langston R (2012) Elemental and morphological analyses of filter tape deposits from a beta attenuation monitor. Atmos Res 106:181–189

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wu Y, Yang L, Zheng X, Zhang S, Song S, Li J, Hao J (2014) Characterization and source apportionment of particulate PAHs in the roadside environment in beijing. Sci Total Environ 470:76–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yunker MB, Macdonald RW, Vingarzan R, Mitchell RH, Goyette D, Sylvestre S (2002) PAHs in the Fraser river basin: a critical appraisal of PAH ratios as indicators of PAH source and composition. Org Geochem 33:489–515

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research has been funded by the Institute for Environmental Research (IER) of Tehran University of Medical Sciences under grant no. 92-02-46-24039. The authors express their gratitude to all laboratory staff of the Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, for their support throughout this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Hoseini, Masud Yunesian, Ramin Nabizadeh, Kamyar Yaghmaeian, Saeid Parmy, Sasan Faridi, Ata Rafiee & Kazem Naddafi

  2. Center for Air Pollution Research (CAPR), Institute for Environmental Research (IER), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Masud Yunesian, Ramin Nabizadeh, Noushin Rastkari & Kazem Naddafi

  3. Center for Water Quality Research, Institute of Environmental Research (IER), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Kamyar Yaghmaeian

  4. Department of Human Ecology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Reza Ahmadkhaniha

Authors
  1. Mohammad Hoseini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Masud Yunesian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ramin Nabizadeh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Kamyar Yaghmaeian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Reza Ahmadkhaniha
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Noushin Rastkari
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Saeid Parmy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Sasan Faridi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Ata Rafiee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Kazem Naddafi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kazem Naddafi.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Hongwen Sun

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hoseini, M., Yunesian, M., Nabizadeh, R. et al. Characterization and risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in urban atmospheric Particulate of Tehran, Iran. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 1820–1832 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5355-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5355-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation