Characterization and health impact assessment of hazardous air pollutants in residential areas near a large iron-steel industrial complex in Korea

Özet

Comprehensive air monitoring of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) was conducted at four residential sites (threein the town and one in a suburb) in Pohang, where Korea's largest iron-steel industrial complex is located. Theobjectives of this study were to evaluate the occurrence and spatiotemporal distributions of HAPs and to identifyimportant HAPs based on a health risk assessment. The 130 HAPs that were measured simultaneously includedvolatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbonyls, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalates, and heavymetals (HMs). The impact of industrial emissions on the ambient levels of HAPs in Pohang appeared to besignificant, because the concentrations of multiple HAPs at residential sites near the industrial complex wereconsiderably higher than those at the suburban site. The concentrations of VOCs (except formaldehyde) and HMsdid not exhibit a specific seasonal pattern, but PAH levels were generally 4–5 times higher in winter than insummer. The cumulative cancer risks posed by 28 HAPs averaged over the three residential sites and the suburban site were 2.3 × 10−4 and 1.6 × 10−4, respectively, both of which exceeded the tolerable risk criterion of1 × 10−4. Benzo[a]pyrene posed the highest risk, followed by As, formaldehyde, benzene, and dibenz[a,h]pyrene. However, no single HAP exceeded the non-cancer risk criterion of 1. These results support the need forstricter controls on emissions of PAHs, VOCs, and HMs in Pohang, particularly for sources in the iron-steelindustrial complex.