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Spatial and long-term temporal assessment of organic hazardous air pollutants and their comparative health risks
Kim, K. H.; Chun, H. H. & Jo, W. K.
Abstract
This study investigated the spatial and longterm
temporal characteristics of 13 selected organic hazardous
air pollutants and the health risks associated with
inhalation exposure over a recent 6-year period. Regional
types selected for this study included a residential–commercial
complex, traffic junction, petrochemical industry,
iron and metal industry, and background areas in Korea.
Toluene was generally the most abundant pollutants in all
areas. The petrochemical industrial area had the highest
median concentrations of six pollutants (benzene, ethyl
benzene, o-xylene, m,p-xylene, styrene, and chloroform),
followed by the residential–commercial complex, traffic
junction, iron and metal industry, and background area.
The residential–commercial complex and traffic junction
areas showed the highest and second highest toluene concentrations,
respectively. Two pollutants (1,1-dichloroethane
and 1,3-butadiene) were present in similar
concentrations among the five areas. In addition, the temporal
trends in the annual mean concentrations exhibited
unpredictable behavior depending on both the area and the
type of pollutants. At the residential–commercial complex
and traffic junction areas, six aromatic compounds showed
significant correlations among themselves. In most cases,
three important meteorological parameters (relative humidity,
temperature, and wind speed) were not significantly
correlated with ambient pollutant concentrations. Benzene
was the only pollutant that exceeded the cancer risk levels
of 1 × 10-6, and this excess was only observed at certain
areas.
Keywords
Residential–commercial; Traffic junction; Petrochemical; Iron and metal; Long-term characteristics; Meteorological parameters
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