Simultaneous monitoring of profiles of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in contaminated air with semipermeable membrane devices and spruce needles

Xiuhua Zhu, Gerd Pfister, Bernhard Henkelmann, Jarmila Kotalik, Silke Bernhöft, Stefan Fiedler, Karl Werner Schramm

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

Gaseous emissions of combusted electronic scrap, PVC, carpet and wood were monitored for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by simultaneous use of semipermeable membrane devices (SPMDs) and shoots of spruce needles (Picea abies). It was found that phenanthrene, acenaphthylene and fluorene were the dominating PAHs in all samples. SPMDs and needles mainly sequestered PAH associated with the vapor phase. Particle-bound PAHs were only detected in small amounts, at which the needles tended to uptake more of these compounds in comparison to the SPMDs. Nevertheless, the logarithm of the concentrations of PAHs analyzed in both passive samplers after the same sampling period exhibited a significant linear correlation with correlation coefficients larger than 0.8073. SPMDs and spruce needles can complement each other in passive air sampling for compounds with a preference to the gas phase rather than aerosols.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)461-466
Number of pages6
JournalEnvironmental Pollution
Volume156
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2008

Keywords

  • PAHs
  • SPMDs
  • Spruce needles

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