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The study of three beaches of South-West Cameroon polluted by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

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Abstract

The US Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) published a priority list of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are compounds that are studied in a variety of matrices due to their wide range of risks. Environmental compartments can be contaminated with PAHs from different sources, such as wastewater from industries and petroleum spills. For the case of Cameroon, there are no recorded data concerning the sources, distributions, and toxicity levels of PAHs in water and sediment from Cameroon beaches which are found in South-West, Littoral, and South Regions. In this work, only three beaches from South-West Region were studied regarding the sources, distributions, and toxicity levels of PAHs in water and sediment. The analyzed samples came from Bobende coastal beach, Down-beach, and Cape-Limboh beach. To achieve the analyses, liquid–liquid extraction and gas chromatography enabled the identification and quantification of PAH compounds from sediments and marine water. Out of the 16 PAHs listed by US-EPA, twelve were identified and quantified among which four of them were light molecular weight PAHs (acenaphthylene, fluorene, phenanthrene, and anthracene). Anthracene in the Cape-Limboh sample presented the highest concentration (477.57 ng/kg weight of dry sediment) of LMW-PAHs. Eight identified and quantified PAHs of high molecular weight as a whole, three absent PAHs (benzo[a]anthracene, dibenzo[a,h]anthracene, and benzo[g,h,i]perylene) in the Cape-Limboh sample, while only one is absent in the Bobende samples (dibenzo[a,h]anthracene) and Down Beach (benzo[g,h,i]perylene). According to the ratios used for the determination of the sources of PAHs, it came out that the source of PAHs from all beaches is pyrolytic. In all samples, BaA is the only high molecular weight PAH presenting serious toxicity and ecological risk.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Limbe City Council for authorizing the realization of the assessment and to the Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry and Bioressources (LICB) of the National School of Agro-Industrial Sciences (ENSAI) of the University of Ngaoundere for the help of analytical measurement.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry and Bioressources (LICB), National School of Agro-Industrial Sciences (ENSAI), The University of Ngaoundere, P.O. Box 455, Ngaoundere, Cameroon

    C. M. Tening Ndifet, P. Ze Bilo’o, R. Kom Regonne & M. B. Ngassoum

  2. Laboratory of Refining and Petrochemistry, National Advanced School of Mines and Petroleum Industries (ENSMIP), The University of Maroua, P.O. Box 08, Kaele, Cameroon

    P. Ze Bilo’o

  3. Department of Environmental Sciences, National Advanced School of Engineering of Maroua (ENSPM), The University of Maroua, P.O. Box 46, Maroua, Cameroon

    G. A. Mouthe Anombogo

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  1. C. M. Tening Ndifet
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  2. P. Ze Bilo’o
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  4. R. Kom Regonne
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Correspondence to P. Ze Bilo’o.

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Tening Ndifet, C.M., Ze Bilo’o, P., Mouthe Anombogo, G.A. et al. The study of three beaches of South-West Cameroon polluted by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Environ Monit Assess 195, 506 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-11111-1

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