Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
15TH INTERNATIONAL ISTANBUL SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH CONGRESSES ON LIFE, SOCIAL, AND HEALTH SCIENCES, İstanbul, Türkiye, 9 - 11 Aralık 2023, cilt.1, ss.1-14
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs) resulting from incomplete combustion of organic materials are ubiquitous
environmental pollutants. Due to their carcinogenic, mutagenic, and toxic
effects, effective mitigation strategies for these pollutants are needed,
especially in urban areas. Therefore, the number of studies focused on the
detection of PAH in several media has increased in recent years. Street dust is
a good indicator of the quality of the urban air environment. Because of their
large surface areas, dust is a sink for several pollutants. On the other hand,
humans are continuously exposed to this contaminated dust because of its
re-suspension into air. In the current study, six street dust samples were
collected from different parts of the highways along Kocaeli. The total 16 PAH
(Σ16PAHs) concentrations ranged from 221.25 ng/g to 2856.86 ng/g with
a mean value of 1070 ng/g. The most abundant
congeners in the dust samples were pyrene with a mean concentration of 256.31
ng/g (55.22-900.17 ng/g), followed by phenanthrene (mean: 143.27 ng/g , range:
38.93–432.21 ng/g) and benzo[k]fluoranthene (mean: 137.49 ng/g , range:
1.37–728.94 ng/g). These three top congeners contributed to approximately half
of the total PAH concentrations in the dust samples.
Although Tavsanlı has the highest annual average
of the daily vehicles passing among samples, Σ16PAHs in the dust from
Dilovası-D100 were detected at the highest level (2857 ng/g). High molecular
weight (HMW)–PAHs significantly contributed to total PAH (ranged from 68.33% to
89,69%) while Low Molecular Weight (LMW)-PAHs were from 10.31% to 28.19%. PAH diagnostic ratios were also calculated to
identify potential sources of PAHs in the samples. The results indicated that the main sources
of PAHs in street dust were vehicle emissions, especially those with diesel
engines. Industrial emissions should be considered in the samples from Tavsanlı
D100 and Dilovası D-100. Applying mitigation strategies such as enforcing
stringent vehicle emission standards and encouraging the use of cleaner fuels
and technologies would be useful to
reduce PAH levels in Kocaeli, a city with high traffic loads