Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) associated with PM10 collected in Wadowice, South Poland

¹ AGH University, Faculty of Physics and Applied Computer Science, Department of Applied Nuclear Physics, Krakow, Poland
² AGH University, Faculty of Energy and Fuels, Department of Coal Chemistry and Environmental Sciences, Krakow, Poland
³ TU Wien, Institute of Chemical Technologies and Analytics, Vienna, Austria
⁴ Krakow Smog Alert, Krakow, Poland

^* Corresponding author: styszko@agh.edu.pl

Abstract

Krakow is a city in southern Poland inhabited by about 741,000 people. However, Krakow’s agglomeration includes neighboring cities, hence more than 1 million people live there. The agglomeration is struggling with the problem of air pollution. In 2016, admissible average annual concentrations of PM10 (40 μg / m³) were exceeded at all measuring points. Furthermore, daily PM10 concentrations were regularly exceeded in the winter, which is associated with increased coal combustion during this period. Fortunately, interest in the subject of air quality in the world is constantly growing. People are more often aware of the negative impact on health of chemical compounds present in particulate matter (PM) such as Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), which were proved to be cancerogenic and mutagenic for people. That is why it is so important to study their presence in the ambient air. PM10 collected in the center of Wadowice (22.12.2016 – 13.10.2017) were investigated. PAHs were extracted from particulate matter and analysed applying the GC/MS technique. The results are discussed in the article.