PARENT SESSION
WA8 - Urbanization Impacts & Issues
Chair: Diamond, Miriam1, 1 100 St. George Street, Toronto, ON, CANADA
Co-chair: Van Metre, Peter2, 2 8027 Exchange Drive, Austin, TX, USA
8:00 AM to 12:00 PM - Wednesday, 20 November 2002
Room Ballroom C
(556) Aerosol Associated Organic Pollutants in an Industrialized Area of Prato (Italy) .
Cincinelli, Alessandra*,1,2, Mandorlo, Stefano2, Checchini, Leonardo2, Lepri, Luciano2, Dickhut, Rebecca1, 1 The College of William and Mary-VIMS, Gloucester Point, Virginia, USA2 University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy, Italy
ABSTRACT- Atmospheric aerosols were collected during the period from May 2000 through January 2001 at 13 different sites in and around the Baciacavallo sewage treatment plant in Prato (Italy). The urban area surrounding the plant contains significant textile industrial activity and a main arterial road. One objective of this study was to determine the aerosol-associated n-alkane, PAH, nonylphenol (NP) and nonylphenolpolyethoxylate (NPEOn) concentrations in order to evaluate the different contribution of industrial activities, transportation, and the sewage treatment plant to the air quality in Prato. Another objective was to estimate exposure levels for carcinogenic PAHs for the population living in the neighborhood of the plant. The n-alkane concentrations ranged from 36.7 to 205 ng/m3 and their possible origin was determined by the presence of typical petroleum characteristics such as the unresolved complex mixture, pristane and phytane, and an odd/even carbon ratio (Carbon Preference Index). PAH concentrations ranged from 1.59 to 31.3 ng/m3, in accordance with those generally found for urban aerosols in Europe, and showed a high contribution of exhaust emissions from gasoline and diesel powered vehicles. The presence in some aerosol samples of NP and NPEOn, markers of the sewage treatment emissions, confirmed the contribution of aerosols produced by the aeration tanks to the atmospheric composition. The distribution of all these classes of organic compounds also reflected the effect of seasonality on the occurrence of the compounds identified.
Key words: Urban aerosol, n-alkanes, PAHs, nonylphenol and nonylphenolpolyethoxylate