CHARACTERIZATION OF GAS/PARTICLE PARTITIONING OF PCBS AND PAHS IN A PILOT AREA OF KRAGUJEVAC, SERBIA

Bombing and destruction of the industrial and military targets accompanied by incomplete combustion during the NATO operation in Serbia, caused emission of the persistent organic pollutants into the atmosphere, ground and underground water, sediment and soil. As the result of the air sampling campaign conducted in June/July 2004, the concentration levels of PCBs and PAHs in air samples in gaseous and particulate phase at the selected locations from the city of Kragujevac, Serbia, was determined using active sampling method and gas/particle partitioning of sixteen priority PAHs and seven PCB congeners was analyzed. GC/MS analysis was carried out in laboratories of Research Centre for Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology (RECETOX), Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic. The relatively high concentration of PCBs was measured on locality inside the Zastava Car Factor (industrial locality), in proximity of the power generation building and two large transformers. From the residual levels of the PCB congeners in the air samples as gaseous and particulate phase it is evident that the most of the investigated congeners existed in the gaseous phase. Analysis of the gas and aerosol partitioning of PAHs in Kragujevac emphasized the presence of PAHs in both, gaseous and particulate phase. Gas/particle partitioning of PAHs showed uniform distribution at: the investigated locations.