Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Long-term phenol, cresols and BTEX monitoring in urban air

  • Published:
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a long-term monitoring of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes (BTEX), phenol and cresols in the air of Padua during a wide period of the year 2007 using two radial passive samplers (Radiello system) equipped with BTEX- and phenol-specific cartridges. Two sites were monitored, one in the industrial area and one close to the town centre. Relevant pollution episodes have been observed during both the winter and summer periods. Benzene, together with toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes showed their maximum concentrations during the winter season, but the secondary pollutant phenol was higher than benzene for a large period of the year when the meteorological conditions blocked the pollutants in the lower layers of the atmosphere and solar radiation increased the benzene photo-oxidation process.

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

Access this article

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

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Cocheo, V., Boaretto, C., & Sacco, P. (1996). High uptake rate radial diffusive sampler suitable for both solvent and thermal desorption. American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal, 57, 897–904. doi:10.1080/15428119691014404.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cocheo, V., Sacco, P., Boaretto, C., De Saeger, E., Perez Ballista, P., Skov, H., et al. (2000). Urban benzene and population exposure. Nature, 404, 141–142. doi:10.1038/35004651.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Finlayson-Pitts, B. J., & Pitts, J. N., Jr. (1986). Atmospheric chemistry: Fundamental and experimental techniques. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoque, R. R., Khillare, P. S., Agarwal, T., Shridhar, V., & Balachandran, S. (2008). Spatial and temporal variation of BTEX in the urban atmosphere of Delhi, India. The Science of the Total Environment, 393, 30–40. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2007.08.036.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khoder, M. I. (2007). Ambient levels of volatile organic compounds in the atmosphere of greater Cairo. Atmospheric Environment, 41, 554–566. doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2006.08.051.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kerbachi, R., Boughedaoui, M., Bounoua, L., & Keddam, M. (2006). Ambient air pollution by aromatic hydrocarbons in Algiers. Atmospheric Environment, 40, 3995–4003. doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2006.02.033.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Menesi, J., Korosi, L., Bazso, E., Zollmer, V., Richardt, A., & Dekany, I. (2008). Photocatalytic oxidation of organic pollutants on titania–clay composites. Chemosphere, 70, 538–542. doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2007.06.049.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Quynh Truc, V. T., & Kim Oanh, N. T. (2007). Roadside BTEX and other gaseous air pollutants in relation to emission sources. Atmospheric Environment, 41, 7685–7697. doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2007.06.003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seethpathy, S., Gorecki, T., & Li, X. (2008). Passive sampling in environmental analysis. Journal of Chromatography A, 1184, 234–253. doi:10.1016/j.chroma.2007.07.070.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stella, L., Seraglia, R., Sturaro, A., Rella, R., & Traldi, P. (2008). On the photochemical oxidation and its relevance at environmental level. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 22, 257–260. doi:10.1002/rcm.3349.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tubaro, M., Marotta, E., Seraglia, R., & Traldi, P. (2003). Atmospheric pressure photoionization mechanisms. 2. The case of benzene and toluene. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 17, 2423–2429. doi:10.1002/rcm.1208.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vione, D., Maurino, V., Minero, C., Pelizzetti, E., Harrison, M. A. J., Olariu, R. I., et al. (2006). Photochemical reaction in the tropospheric aqueous phase and in particulate matter. Chemical Society Reviews, 35(5), 441–453.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • WHO. (1994). Phenol. Environmental Health Criteria Document No. 161, Geneva.

  • Wu, F., Li, J., Peng, Z., & Deng, N. (2008). Photochemical formation of hydroxyl radicals catalyzed by montmorillonite. Chemosphere, 72, 407–413. doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2008.02.034.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alberto Sturaro.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sturaro, A., Rella, R., Parvoli, G. et al. Long-term phenol, cresols and BTEX monitoring in urban air. Environ Monit Assess 164, 93–100 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-009-0877-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-009-0877-x

Keywords

Navigation