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BTEX in Ambient Air of India: a Scoping Review of their Concentrations, Sources, and impact

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Abstract

Toxic gaseous organic air pollutants such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene isomers (m, p, and o-x) (BTEX) are considered hazardous due to its adverse impacts on human health and on climate change. This review identifies the major research questions addressed so far and the research gap in research articles, published between 2001 and 2022, focusing on the ambient BTEX concentrations in different locations in India along with its sources, ozone formation potential (OFP), and associated health risks. The ambient levels of BTEX were also compared with those of other Asian countries. A comparison of ambient BTEX levels with different microenvironments in India is also presented. BTEX concentrations were found in the range of 30.95 to 317.18 µg m−3 and multi-fold higher in urban environments than those measured in the rural air. In most reported studies, the order of occurrence of BTEX compounds was toluene > benzene > xylene isomers > ethylbenzene and winter had higher concentrations than in other seasons, including summer. As far as BTEX levels in classified areas of urban environments are concerned, traffic locations have shown the highest BTEX concentrations, followed by residential, commercial, and industrial locations. OFP indicated that xylene isomers and toluene contributed to ozone formation. The major gaps in reported studies on BTEX measurement are (1) source apportionment; (2) impact on lower tropospheric chemistry, human health, and climate change; and (3) removal techniques from air.

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Acknowledgements

This study is mainly supported by SERB, India project proposal (CRG/2022/003926), and partially supported by DST FIST, India program (SR/FST/ CSI-259/2014 (c)), and UGC-SAP-DRS-II, India program (F-540/7/DRS-II/2016 (SAP-I)). One of the authors, Aishwaryashri Tamrakar (AT), is grateful to Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University for providing laboratory facilities.

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  1. School of Studies in Chemistry, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur-492010, Chhattisgarh, India

    Aishwaryashri Tamrakar, Shamsh Pervez, Madhuri Verma, Princy Dugga, Archi Mishra, Sushant Ranjan Verma, Manas Kanti Deb, Kamlesh Shrivas, Manmohan L. Satnami & Indrapal Karbhal

  2. CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, EKDP, E. M. Bypass, Kolkata Zonal Laboratory, i-8, Sector CKolkata-700 107, Kolkata, India

    Dipanjali Majumdar

  3. Department of Chemistry, Dondi-Lohara, Government Eklavya College, Balod, Chhattisgarh, India

    Yasmeen Fatima Pervez

  4. Geosciences Department, GeoBioTec, University of Aveiro, Aveiro Santiago Campus, Aveiro, Portugal

    Carla Candeias

  5. EpiUnit, Public Health Institute, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Carla Candeias

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Tamrakar, A., Pervez, S., Verma, M. et al. BTEX in Ambient Air of India: a Scoping Review of their Concentrations, Sources, and impact. Water Air Soil Pollut 233, 411 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-022-05863-8

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