Assessment of Total Suspended Particulate Matter-Bound Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Ambient Air of a Seasonally Dry Tropical Urban-Industrial Area

摘要

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) make up a significant class of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) with specific properties such as high toxicity, persistence, high bioaccumulative coefficient, carcinogenic or mutagenic human health effects, and the ability for transmission across large distances (1). PCBs may enter the atmosphere from leakage and volatilization from transformers or capacitors, incinerators, landfills, sludge-drying beds, soil, or the air-water exchange (2, 3). Due to their persistence, PCBs have remained major global pollutants, with numerous investigations reporting their continued and ubiquitous presence in the global atmosphere (4). Combustion processes involving a carbon source and chlorine have been reported as possible sources of PCBs and other POPs (5). Emissions of various POPs from the incineration of municipal, hospital, and other wastes; domestic combustion; open burning of wastes; landfill fires; and accidental fires are well documented (6, 7). The combustion of different types of fossil fuels in various industrial and metallurgical activities and power generation processes were also found to contribute to atmospheric PCB loads (8, 9). Although there is sufficient information available concerning PCB emissions from incineration facilities for municipal waste and from large industries worldwide (10, 11), there is a great paucity of data on total suspended particulate matter (TSP)-bound PCB concentrations and profiles in India. Only a few studies have measured PCBs (12). In the present study, ambient PCB concentrations and profiles were obtained for TSP in a seasonally dry, tropical urban-industrial area of India.