Suchergebnisse

This volume studies the risk to the environment and human health posed by nitroPAHS. Data on the in vivo genotoxicity of nitroPAHs are available for 15 nitroPAHs. All nitroPAHs that gave positive results in vivo were also positive in vitro. Four nitroPAHs that were positive in in vitro genotoxicity tests revealed inconsistent or inconclusive genotoxicity (2-nitronaphthalene 5-nitroacenaphthene and 3-nitrofluoranthene) or negative genotoxicity (2 7-dinitrofluorene; limited validity) results in vivo. There are no reports on the effects of individual nitroPAHs on humans. As would be expected sinc

Polycyclic Aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are organic compounds consisting of only hydrogen and aromatic carbon rings. PAHs are neutral, non-polar molecules that are produced due to incomplete combustion of organic matter. These compounds are carcinogenic and interact with biological nucleophiles to inhibit the normal metabolic functions of the cells. In Norway, the most important sources of PAH pollution are considered to be metallurgical industries, offshore oil industries, transport and wood burning. Stricter governmental regulations regarding emissions to the outer and internal environment combined with increased awareness of the potential health effects have motivated Norwegian metal industries to increase their efforts to reduce emissions considerably. One of the objective of the ongoing industry and Norwegian research council supported "SCORE" project at SINTEF is to remove PAH from a hot gas stream through controlled combustion of the PAH inside a dedicated combustion chamber. The sizing and configuration of the combustion chamber depends on the properties of the bulk gas stream and the properties of the PAH itself. In order to achieve efficient and complete combustion of the PAH, the residence time and temperature need to be optimized. In the present study, the oxidation of pure PAH and PAH mixed with process gas is modelled using a Perfectly Stirred Reactor (PSR) concept. PSR concept was useful for understanding the influence of residence time and temperature on the oxidation of PAH to CO2 and water. Furthermore, a computationally fast approach based on Chemical Reactor Network (CRN) is proposed for understanding the oxidation of PAH inside complex geometries. The Chemical Reactor Network (CRN) yields a detailed composition regarding species and temperature in the combustion chamber. ; publishedVersion

The pollution of world ocean is a serious threat to the biodiversity of flora and fauna. One of the
most important sources of pollution are oil and oil products – every year more than 1 million
tons of oil is spilled into the sea as a result of accidents during oil production or transportation.
The teratogenic and carcinogenic effects of such oil components as benzopyrene is well known
since the middle of the last century. However, after a large oil spill from "Exxon Valdez" tanker
in 1989 it became clear that oil and its components have strong toxic effects in fish organism –
and to a large extent these effects are caused by di- and tricyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, in
particular phenanthrene. Field research have demonstrated that fish embryo and larvae are the
most prone to the effects of oil – and the largest oil spills endanger the populations of important
commercial fish species that spawn in this area. This review considers the influence of polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) on the physiology of various organ systems in fish. Particular
attention is paid to the cardiotoxic effects of PAH which were recently discovered and which are
potentially not only the main cause of animals' death upon the spill of PAH into water, but also
underlie the malformation of other organs.

Abstract
A vast number of people in developing countries rely on solid fuels, including wood and charcoal, for domestic energy supply. We have studied the gaseous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations in Kenyan homes in order to better understand the potential health risks associated with domestic combustion practices and to advise mitigation strategies. A comprehensive survey was conducted to elucidate the complex and multi-faceted factors governing fuel use in Kenyan coastal and inland regions. Results showed an almost equal distribution in fuel type usage between firewood, charcoal, kerosene and liquid petroleum gas (LPG). In rural areas, three-stone stoves were still predominant, whilst cleaner devices burning kerosene and LPG were used more widely in urban communities. Indoor air was subsequently sampled in a range of urban and rural households using portable polydimethylsiloxane sampling tubes. These were extracted using the plunger assisted solvent extraction (PASE) technique, followed by GC-MS analysis of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) priority PAHs. Total PAH concentrations in samples collected varied considerably (0.82 – 173.69 µg/m3), which could be attributed to differences in fuel type, combustion device, climate, and nature of the households. Higher [PAH] were found in rural homes, although ambient PAH concentrations were higher in urban environments, likely due to traffic contributions and population density. Toxicity equivalent quotient values varied widely between households and emphasised the importance of good combustion practices to minimise human exposure.

Abstract
In a refractory brick manufacturing company a qualitative and quantitative determination of the sources of occupational exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was obtained in order to validate targeted hygiene measurements. The study included the assessment of PAHs contamination of work surfaces by wipe-sampling, cutaneous exposure by hand washing, contamination of personal protective equipments (gloves) by extraction in solvent, and airborne PAHs concentration in atmospheric samples. Biomonitoring was also carried out by measurement of urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHPU) in three groups of workers (packaging, production, and controls). The surface contamination sampling was performed in production, packaging, and in other departments (external area) in theory less contaminated by PAHs. Two different areas were identified within the production, one included surfaces that were regularly cleaned (A area) and one included data from non-cleaned surfaces (B area). To confirm the source of exposure, a clear correspondence was observed between the percentage of the single compounds in the binder and those measured in wipes and air samples. As far as the wipes are concerned, the concentrations of phenanthrene, anthracene, fluoranthene, pyrene, benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), and the total PAHs mixture were higher in the B area than the A area of production. The same happened between the A area and the other two departments. According to results of the statistical analysis, these differences were significant. These results were confirmed by the hand washing data and the analysis of PPE. On the other hand, a marked difference does not exist between the packaging department and the external area. In air samples, the differences were much less evident with only higher concentrations of anthracene and total PAHs between production as a whole and the other two departments. Biological monitoring showed 1-OHPU values significantly higher in production workers than in packaging workers. In conclusion, the analysis of the wipes demonstrated that the production B area has a higher surface contamination compared to the production A area and the packaging department. In the absence of a significant difference in air concentrations of PAHs between A and B areas, this is attributable to surfaces not subject to cleaning. Results confirm that the measurement of surface contamination represents a valid tool for the assessment of sources of exposure to PAHs in the workplace.

AbstractPolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a widespread group of organic contaminants whose presence in water bodies is cause of severe concern. With few exceptions, the majority of PAHs is hydrophobic, presents a high adsorption affinity, and is thus primarily transported within river systems during high-flow events together with suspended particulate matter (SPM). Evidence exists of analytical challenges related to the incomplete extraction of PAHs adsorbed to solids and thus to a potential negative bias in the chemical analysis of PAHs in bulk water samples with high SPM content. Despite this, partly due to the elevated efforts required to collect representative samples containing sufficient SPM for the separate PAH analysis in this matrix, several investigations rely on the analysis of aqueous samples. This study tests the hypothesis that surveys based exclusively on bulk water may lead to a systematic underestimation of the real contamination level and transport of PAHs in rivers. Six high-turbidity events were examined in three Austrian rivers applying time-integrated sampling and simultaneously analyzing PAHs in total bulk water, filtered water, SPM, and supernatant. Despite an unavoidable degree of uncertainty in such challenging sampling scheme, the results indicate that measurements performed with best available standard methods in bulk water samples determined in average only about 40% of the theoretically expected total PAHs concentrations derived from the analyses in SPM. Such deviation has important implications for the reliable assessment of the compliance with environmental quality standards as well as for surveys aimed to estimate riverine loads, validate emission models, and understand the transport dynamics of PAHs in rivers. Whereas the first objective, e.g., in European countries, is alternatively achieved via monitoring in biota, the latter ones require efforts directed to complement monitoring campaigns with separate sampling of SPM, with monitoring of suspended solids transport to appropriately select and interpret the results of water samples and to improve the chemical analysis of PAHs in bulk water samples with high solids content.