Distribution of the Soil PAHs and Health Risk Influenced by Coal Usage Processes in Taiyuan City, Northern China

Rongjie Li, Mingchao Cheng, Yang Cui, Qiusheng He, Xiaofang Guo, Laiguo Chen and Xinming Wang
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Rongjie Li: School of Environment and Safety, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
Mingchao Cheng: School of Environment and Safety, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
Yang Cui: School of Environment and Safety, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
Qiusheng He: School of Environment and Safety, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
Xiaofang Guo: School of Environment and Safety, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
Laiguo Chen: Center of Urban Air Pollution, South China Institute of Environmental Science (SCIES), Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China, Guangzhou 510655, China
Xinming Wang: State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 17, 1-18

Abstract: The quality of urban soil is closely related to the safety of public places and the guarantee of food quality. This study investigated the level, distribution, source, and carcinogenic risk of 16 U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in urban, agricultural, and montane soil in Taiyuan. The ∑16PAHs level varied from 104.78 to 6594.63 ng g −1 with a mean of 922.93 ng g −1 , and 47.73% of the soil samples were severely contaminated, with a concentration higher than 600 ng g −1 . PAHs with higher molecular weight (≥4 rings) were dominant in PAHs profiles accounting for 80.92%. In the spatial distribution of PAHs, hotspots of ∑16 PAHs were observed near the industries, indicating pollutants emitted by the industries directly affect the surrounding soil quality. The sources identified by positive matrix factorization (PMF) indicated: coal combustion (40.77%), vehicle exhausts (32.94%), biomass combustion (14.89%), and coking source (11.40%). Coal-related sources (coal and coking sources) were the major contributors (52.17%) to PAHs and carcinogenic risk (46.48%) assessed by BaP toxic equivalent concentration in total soils. Therefore, the extensive usage of coal was the leading factor for PAH pollution and health risk in Taiyuan soil.

Keywords: PAHs; spatial distribution; positive matrix factorization (PMF); coal-related sources; carcinogenic risk (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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