Distribution and health-risk of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soils at a coking plant

Abstract

Nineteen soil samples were collected in and around Songshan coking plant in Guangdong province of China and analyzed for eighteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The total concentration of PAHs ranged from 2.36 to 1146.39 mg kg⁻¹ dry weight, varying significantly among the sampling sites, most individual PAHs were correlated with each other. A cluster analysis was performed to examine the correlation of PAH distribution, five groups were observed with sample types in the coking plant. 2–3 ring PAHs were predominant in group I and II, while 4–5 ring PAHs showed great abundance in group III, IV and V, which contributed to the distance from the emission sources in the coking plant and the behaviors of particle-bound and gaseous PAHs. The ratios of Flu : (Flu + Pyr), BaA : (BaA + Chr), InP : (InP + BgP) and Ant : (Ant + Phen) ratios were 0.51-0.87, 0.16-0.89, 0.47-0.68 and 0.03-0.60, respectively. The total index of all studied soils was > 6, indicating that the source of the PAHs in coking plant soils were from the pyrolysis processes. Health risk assessments were carried out by dermal PAH exposure data to quantify cancer risk. The resultant lifetime exposure levels due to TEQ_BaP desorbed onto skin for workers ranged from 2.25 × 10⁻⁷ to 7.86 × 10⁻⁵ mg kg⁻¹ per day, and the estimated cancer risks were between 8.45 × 10⁻⁶ and 2.94 × 10⁻³, indicating that the dermal exposures of PAHs to coking workers might be acceptable in most soil sites.