Determination of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Surface Waters and Runoff
PAH are ubiquitous environmental pollutants of natural and anthropogenic origins. Microbial synthesis, synthesis by higher plants and volcanic activities are major natural source contributions but they contribute a very small amount compared to anthropoge
- PDF / 589,244 Bytes
- 9 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 105 Downloads / 278 Views
Introduction PAH are ubiquitous environmental pollutants of natural and anthropogenic origins. Microbial synthesis, synthesis by higher plants and volcanic activities are major natural source contributions but they contribute a very small amount compared to anthropogenic sources [1]. They are important priority pollutants emanating anthropogenically from incomplete combustion of organic matter mainly coal- and oil-burning, plants and vehicle emissions as combustion products. Polycyclic organic matter that contains benzo [a] pyrene and other PAH containing materials is released from forest and agricultural fires and they are most likely absorbed onto smoke particles settling on all kinds of surfaces where they are transferred by rainfall into aquatic environment. [2–4]. PAH are slow to degrade in the environment, and sediments in particular are “sinks” where chemicals tend to concentrate [5, 9]. Their mutagenic and carcinogenic nature has been widely recognized by several researchers [2, 6, 7]. They are classified as carcinogenic because they are metabolized to dihydrodiols by hydrocarbon hydroxylase, which is present in the liver and these dihydrodiols and their epoxide derivatives bind to DNA and proteins and start mutagenic processes in the cells [11]. PAH can enter human beings via inhalation through lungs when they breathe air which is contaminated by PAHs from cigarette smoke, wood smoke, coal smoke and smoke from industrial sites [12, 13]. PAHs can also enter the human body through drinking water contaminated with PAHs, or swallowing food, soil or dust particles containing PAHs. These compounds can also enter the human body through skin contact. In the body, PAHs are stored in all
O.S. Fatoki (*) Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa e-mail: [email protected] T.V. Ree and J. Nakhavhembe University of Venda, South Africa S. Rauch et al. (eds.), Highway and Urban Environment, Alliance for Global Sustainability Bookseries 17, DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-3043-6_23, © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010
207
208
O.S. Fatoki et al.
organs that contain fats, like kidneys and liver, where they changed into different substances that may even be more harmful than the original PAHs [13]. Due to the toxicity of PAHs, particularly their carcinogenic and mutagenic character, they are listed by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as priority pollutants because they have negative impact and also affect quality of life negatively [14]. Due to their environmental importance, PAHs have been studied extensively in mussels, surface runoff, sediment and soil [10, 15–17]. The increasing presence of these compounds necessitates their regular monitoring in the environment. In South Africa however, particularly in the study area, the status of PAHs is not clearly known because of paucity of data (these compounds are rarely studied) which might be due to analytical problem of recovery from complex matrices. Due to the complexity of the matrix and the very low concentrations they are found to be prese
Data Loading...
