A review on the atmospheric concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Asia since 2000 - Part I: Data from developed countries

Abstract

Among all hazardous air pollutants, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are more significant owing to their carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic properties. Many researchers worldwide have focused on determining the concentrations of PAHs in ambient air. However, the literature survey reveals that the seriousness of air pollution in Asia in terms of PAHs, compared to the rest of the world. Owing to the importance of PAHs in Asia, this paper reviews the concentrations of PAHs in Asia in recent years. For convenience, this paper describes the concentrations of PAHs in developed Asian countries reported during 2000-2011 as Part-I and in developing Asian countries as Part-II. The first section of this review provides a brief description of the properties, sources of PAHs and the health effects caused by their presence in the atmosphere. The ambient air PAH concentrations in both particle and vapor phases in developed Asian countries are then discussed. This study finds the ambient air concentrations of PAHs in developed Asian countries was higher than the Western countries but was lower than the developing Asian countries. The present review predicts the accurate toxicity due to the presence of PAHs in the atmosphere by calculating the Risk Weighted Concentration (RWC), regardless of the total amount of PAHs. The total data obtained during the literature survey is tabulated and presented as supplementary information to the readers.