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Influence of vehicular emissions on the levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in urban and industrial areas of La Plata, Argentina

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Abstract

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are considered potentially toxic, even carcinogenic, because of their affection to public health and the environment. It is necessary to know their ambient levels and the origin of these pollutants in order to mitigate them. A concerning scenario is the one in which commercial/administrative, industrial, and residential activities coexist. In this context, Gran La Plata (Argentina) presents such characteristics, in addition to the presence of one of the most important petrochemical complexes in the country and intense vehicular traffic. The source apportionment of PAH emission in the region, associated to 10-µm and 2.5-µm particulate matter fractions, was studied. First, different missing value imputation methods were evaluated for PAH databases. GSimp presented a better performance, with mean concentrations of ∑PAHs of 65.8 ± 40.2 ng m−3 in PM10 and 39.5 ± 18.0 ng m−3 in PM2.5. For both fractions, it was found that the highest contribution was associated with low molecular weight PAHs (3 rings), with higher concentrations of anthracene. Emission sources were identified by using principal component analysis (PCA) together with multiple linear regression (MLR) and diagnostic ratios of PAHs. The results showed that the main emission source is associated with vehicular traffic in both fractions. Classification by discriminant analysis showed that emissions can be identified by region and that fluoranthene, benzo(a)anthracene, and anthracene in PM10 and anthracene and phenanthrene in PM2.5 are a characteristic of emissions from the petrochemical complex.

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Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), the Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (CIC PBA), and Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP) for their support to the present study.

Funding

This research is supported by the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), the Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (MINCyT), the Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (CIC PBA), and the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP).

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  1. Centro de Investigaciones del Medioambiente (CIM), CONICET CCT La Plata, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Bv. 120 N° 1489, La Plata, Argentina

    Daniela Mellado, Daniela Giuliani, Pablo Martin Demetrio, Erica Yanina Sanchez & Andrés Porta

  2. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas “Dr. Jorge J. Ronco” (CINDECA), CONICET CCT La Plata, UNLP, 47 N° 257, 1900, La Plata, Argentina

    Jorge Esteban Colman Lerner

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  1. Daniela Mellado
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  2. Daniela Giuliani
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  3. Pablo Martin Demetrio
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  4. Erica Yanina Sanchez
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D. Mellado, D. Giuliani, P.M. Demetrio, E.Y. Sanchez, A. Porta, and J.E. Colman Lerner were major contributors in writing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Mellado, D., Giuliani, D., Demetrio, P.M. et al. Influence of vehicular emissions on the levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in urban and industrial areas of La Plata, Argentina. Environ Monit Assess 194, 822 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10496-9

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