Aug 2026· Air quality, atmosphere and health· Vol 19· 0 citations· 76 references
TL;DR
The results showed that no age group is fully protected, highlighting the need to include FA, AA, and acrolein in Brazilian air quality standards, to implement stricter controls on vehicle emissions, and to establish extensive, continuous atmospheric monitoring.
Abstract
Carbonyl compounds (CCs) are relevant atmospheric pollutants due to the high toxicity and carcinogenicity of some species. This study assessed the lifetime carcinogenic (LCR) and non-carcinogenic (hazard quotient, HQ; hazard index, HI) risks for three age groups exposed by inhalation, using Monte Carlo simulations based on CCs’ atmospheric levels measured at seven sites in Salvador, Brazil, during the rainy and dry periods. Ten CCs were passively sampled and determined by HPLC-UV. Formaldehyde (FA) and acetaldehyde (AA) predominated, accounting for approximately 55% and 61% of total concentrations in the rainy and dry periods, respectively. Higher molecular weight carbonyls predominated at heavy-duty traffic sites, reflecting Brazil’s vehicular fuel matrix, which favors both direct emissions and secondary photochemical formation of CCs. FA concentrations exceeded the TCEQ long-term exposure limit (3.30 µg m− 3) at all sites and periods, reaching up to 7.4 times this limit during the dry period. At the 95th percentile, LCR values for FA and AA exceeded the USEPA lower acceptable limit (1.0 × 10− 6) for all age groups, and FA (up to 3.49 × 10− 5) exceeded the WHO upper limit (1.0 × 10− 5), especially among adults. Deterministic LCR values fell within the 60th–75th percentile range of the probabilistic distributions, indicating that this conventional method underestimated cancer risks. For acrolein, the HQ (P95) was fourfold above the USEPA limit (HQ ≤ 1) in children, and the cumulative HI (P95) exceeded this limit across all three groups. These results showed that no age group is fully protected, highlighting the need to include FA, AA, and acrolein in Brazilian air quality standards, to implement stricter controls on vehicle emissions, and to establish extensive, continuous atmospheric monitoring.
Harbor emissions introduce carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) into the marine environment, posing significant risks. This study investigated the distribution, sources, and risks of 16 priority PAHs in the atmosphere of Tianjin Harbor, one of the world's largest industrial harbors in northern China. A one-year sampling campaign from June 2020 to May 2021 was conducted to collect 35 samples for TSP, PM2.5, and gas phase, respectively, with surrogate recoveries ranging from 75%-125%. Annual mean total PAH concentrations in TSP, PM2.5 and gas phase were successively 104.49 ± 88.06 ng/m3, 56.19 ± 49.93 ng/m3, and 246.34 ± 169.30 ng/m3, with peak levels occurring in winter. The partitioning mechanism (slopes > -0.6) was dominated by the absorption into organic matter based on the gas-particle partitioning analysis, indicating strong local source influence. Local combustion sources, including biomass/coal burning (dominant in winter) and vehicle/ship emissions (year-round) were identified as the main contributors based on convergent evidence from PSCF, diagnostic ratio analysis, and positive matrix factorization (PMF). The incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) from inhalation exposure exceeded the acceptable level of 10-6, with >99% of Monte Carlo simulations indicating a potential carcinogenic risk. The estimated dry deposition flux of total PAHs (ΣPAHs 138.26 ± 114.87 μg/m2/day) was higher than values reported for other coastal regions, implying the substantial input to the adjacent Bohai Sea. These findings underscored the dominance of local combustion emissions and the associated health risks, while suggesting potential ecological concerns related to atmospheric PAH deposition, providing a scientific basis for targeted mitigation measures in major industrial harbors.
Small industrial cities are less frequently investigated for the presence of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in ambient air, although these pollutants pose a serious threat to the environment, economy, and public well-being. Passive moss biomonitoring was applied to assess air quality in three industrial cities (Solikamsk, Berezniki, and Gubakha) of the Perm region, Russia. All three cities, dominated by the chemical, metallurgical, and mining industries, are major centres of industrial development in the region. The elemental composition of moss samples was determined using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry and a Milestone DMA-80 direct mercury analyser. Correlation analysis, factor analysis, and principal component analysis were applied to identify relationships among the elements and their possible emission sources. The results showed that the main sources of PTEs are industrial activities, including chemical, metallurgical, and coke-chemical production, as well as coal and oil combustion and vehicle emissions. To assess the degree of air pollution, contamination factor (CF), pollution load index (PLI), and ecological risk index (RI) were calculated. The PLI values for Solikamsk, Berezniki, and Gubakha were 1.35, 1.69, and 1.56, respectively, indicating pollution levels ranging from unpolluted to moderately polluted. For most elements, the potential ecological risk (PER) values indicated a low level of ecological risk. However, moderate potential ecological risks were identified for Hg in all three cities, with values ranging from 42.8 to 49.4, and for Cd in Gubakha, with a value of 66.1. The overall risk index ranged from 87 in Solikamsk to 137 in Gubakha, indicating a low overall ecological risk in all three cities.
E. Gatina, Inga Zinicovscaia, P. Sannikov et al.· Environmental Research· 0 citations
Residential heater replacement programs in Chile have been evaluated primarily through fine particulate matter (PM) reduction metrics, without considering chemical speciation of the organic aerosols. This screening-level study characterized and compared particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) and nitro-PAH emission factors from a residential firewood and a wood pellet heater, under controlled combustion conditions, and assessed their potential toxic equivalency (BaP-TEQ). Compound quantification used 1-nitropyrene as an index calibration compound; all results are semi-quantitative estimates with a combined analytical uncertainty of approximately 13–32%. Firewood combustion yielded a PAH-dominated emission profile with a total BaP-TEQ EF of 187.8 ng/kg, driven primarily by benzo[a]pyrene (BaP; individual contribution: 183.9 ng/kg). Wood pellet combustion showed a nitro-PAH-dominated profile under the applied semi-quantitative analytical conditions, with concentrations expressed as 1-nitropyrene-equivalent estimates and several compounds identified tentatively by NIST library matching, yielding a total screening-level BaP-TEQ EF of 972.1 ng/kg, approximately five-fold higher than firewood under the applied TEF framework and driven primarily by 6-nitrochrysene (toxic equivalency factor, TEF = 10). This screening-level estimate should not be interpreted as a direct human health risk between the two heating systems. Mean PM emission factors were 1.05 ± 0.55 g/kg for firewood combustion and 0.69 ± 0.15 g/kg for pellet combustion (approximately 1.5-fold difference). These results are reported descriptively given the screening-level nature of the analysis. The shift in particulate chemical profile from PAH-dominated in the firewood system to nitro-PAH-dominated in the pellet system suggests that wood pellets from pine may not be a sustainable approach to address air quality problems in Chile, since reductions in PM emissions alone may not capture relevant differences in the organic toxicological profile between these combustion systems. These findings provide a regional baseline for the chemical speciation of residential biomass emissions in Chile.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are persistent semi-volatile organic contaminants generated mainly during the incomplete combustion of organic materials and petroleum-derived fuels. This study assessed PAH levels in indoor and outdoor air and estimated the associated inhalation health risks in Akpajo, Alesa and Aleto communities of Eleme Local Government Area, Rivers State, Nigeria, an industrially and traffic-influenced area of the Niger Delta. Twelve 24-hour integrated air-sampling conditions were evaluated across three communities, two seasons (dry and wet) and two microenvironments (indoor and outdoor). Airborne particulate-bound PAHs were collected using a high-volume air-sampling approach, solvent-extracted with dichloromethane:n-hexane (1:1, v/v), concentrated and quantified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Method quality control included internal-standard calibration, field and method blanks, duplicate checks, surrogate recovery assessment, blank correction, and limits of detection and quantification. Statistical analysis was based on descriptive statistics, including range, arithmetic mean, pooled congener totals, community means, seasonal means and indoor-outdoor means. Total PAH concentrations ranged from 7.40 µg/m³ in Alesa wet-season indoor air to 30.55 µg/m³ in Aleto dry-season outdoor air. The mean total PAH concentration was highest in Aleto (21.41 µg/m³), followed by Akpajo (11.80 µg/m³) and Alesa (10.39 µg/m³). Dry-season air had a higher mean total PAH concentration (18.18 µg/m³) than wet-season air (10.88 µg/m³), while outdoor air (15.75 µg/m³) exceeded indoor air (13.32 µg/m³). Anthracene, pyrene, benzo(k)fluoranthene, naphthalene, fluorene and phenanthrene were the dominant contributors to the pooled PAH burden. Non-detected high-molecular-weight PAHs were reported as below the method detection limit rather than as true zero values. Screening-level risk assessment showed that children had higher estimated lifetime average daily dose and incremental lifetime carcinogenic risk than adults under the same sampling conditions. The highest child ILCR occurred in Aleto dry-season outdoor air (4.12E-04), while several child-risk estimates exceeded 1.00E-04, indicating potential concern under the assumptions used. The findings indicate measurable PAH contamination, higher dry-season burden and greater screening-level risk estimates for children. Routine monitoring, emission reduction, dust control and targeted public-health communication are recommended.
O. N. Nwidaa, T. Ideriah, O. Bull et al.· Journal of applied chemical...· 0 citations
