Khoury, D.; Millet, M.; Jabali, Y.; Delhomme, O. Occurrence of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Fogwater at Urban, Suburban, and Rural Sites in Northeast France between 2015 and 2021. Atmosphere2024, 15, 291.
Khoury, D.; Millet, M.; Jabali, Y.; Delhomme, O. Occurrence of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Fogwater at Urban, Suburban, and Rural Sites in Northeast France between 2015 and 2021. Atmosphere 2024, 15, 291.
Khoury, D.; Millet, M.; Jabali, Y.; Delhomme, O. Occurrence of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Fogwater at Urban, Suburban, and Rural Sites in Northeast France between 2015 and 2021. Atmosphere2024, 15, 291.
Khoury, D.; Millet, M.; Jabali, Y.; Delhomme, O. Occurrence of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Fogwater at Urban, Suburban, and Rural Sites in Northeast France between 2015 and 2021. Atmosphere 2024, 15, 291.
Abstract
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) exist in the atmosphere in the vapor and particulate phases, as well as in the solubilized form in fog/rain/cloud waters. They are abundant pollutants and are known for their acute and chronic toxicity. In the current paper, fogwater samples are collected during 42 events between 2015 and 2021 at four sites (Strasbourg, Geispolsheim, Erstein, Cronenbourg) in the Alsace region with different topological characteristics. PAHs and PCBs are extracted using the liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) supported on a solid cartridge (XTR Chromabond), and then analyzed by gas-chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). Total PAHs and PCBs concentration in fog samples varied between 0.58 and 6.7 µg L-1 (average of 2.70 µg L-1), and 0.14 and 15.5 µg L-1 (average of 2.75 µg L-1). Low molecular weight (LMW) predominant and highly detectable over high molecular weight PAHs by at least 1.6 times, while pentachloro-biphenyls are the dominant PCB congener accounting for at least 50% of the total fraction. PAHs and PCBs concentrations have increased over sampling years at all sites, except a slight decrease in PCBs level at Geispolsheim. Diagnostic ratio analysis suggested that diesel and fossil fuel combustion are the dominant contributors to PAHs in Alsace
Keywords
Strasbourg metropolitan; persistent organic pollutants; diagnostic ratio
Subject
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Atmospheric Science and Meteorology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
