POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS IN AMBIENT AIR AT FOUR URBAN LOCATIONS OF SEOUL, KOREA

This paper reports on the monitoring results of 17 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds made at four urban locations in Seoul, Korea from February 2009 to July 2009. The mean concentrations of PAHs in gas plus particle phases were computed as 19.0 (Jong Ro: JR), 17.7 (Gwang Jin: GJ), 22.2 (Gang Seo: GS), and 25.9 ng m(-3) (Yang Jae: YJ). The partitioning patterns of individual PAHs greatly differed between gas and particle phases. Despite such differences, phenanthrene (PHN), pyrene (PYR), and fluoranthene (FLT) were identified as the most abundant species (about 55% of all PAHs) at all sites. The overall results of this study, if drawn by such approaches as the analysis of diagnostic ratios and principal component analysis (PCA), suggest that the distribution of PAHs at these urban sites is controlled by a combined effect of such processes as vehicle emissions, road dust, and coal combustion.