• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.131-143
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• 2021

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the atmospheric concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and the urinary concentration of biomarkers in residents near the Shinpyeong·Jangrim Industrial Complex to compare them with those of residents in a control area. Methods: Hazardous air pollutants (PAHs and VOCs) were measured in an exposure area (two sites) and a control area (one site). Urine samples were collected from residents near the industrial complex (184 persons) and residents in the control area (181 persons). Multiple linear regression analysis was used to identify which factors affected the concentration of PAHs and VOCs metabolites. Results: The average atmospheric concentration of PAHs in Shinpyeong-dong and Jangrim-dong was 0.45 and 0.59 ppb for pyrene, 0.15 and 0.16 ppb for benzo[a]pyrene, and 0.29 and 0.35 ppb for dibenz[a,h]anthracene. The average atmospheric concentration of VOCs was 1.10 and 0.99 ppb for benzene, 8.22 and 11.30 ppb for toluene, and 1.91 and 3.05 ppb for ethylbenzene, respectively. The concentrations of PAHs and VOCs in residents near the Shinpyeong·Jangrim Industrial Complex were higher than those of residents in the control area. Geometric means of urinary 2-hydroxyfluorene, 1-hydroxypyrene, methylhippuric acid, and mandelic acid concentrations were 0.45, 0.22, 391.51, and 201.36 ㎍/g creatinine, respectively. Those levels were all significantly higher than those in the control area (p<0.05). In addition, as a result of multiple regression analysis, even after adjusting for potential confounding factors such as gender and smoking, the concentration of metabolites in urine was high in residents near the Shinpyeong·Jangrim Industrial Complex. Conclusion: The results of this study show the possibility of human exposure to VOCs in residents near the Shinpyeong·Jangrim Industrial Complex. Therefore, continuous monitoring of the local community is required for the management of environmental pollutant emissions.

• Proceedings of the Korea Air Pollution Research Association Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.341-343
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• 2005

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.385-395
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• 2016

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess exposure to VOCs and PAHs and the health effects on volunteers who participated in an oil spill cleanup in Yeosu. Methods: Atmospheric VOCs were evaluated in the vicinity of the accident site and questionnaire surveys were conducted to identify personal characteristics and acute health symptoms of clean-up workers seven days after the accident. The levels of metabolites of VOCs (t,t-MA, HA, PGA, MA, MHA) and PAHs (2-NAP, 1-OHP, 2-HF, 1-HPH), oxidative stress markers (TABARS, 8-OHdG) in the urine of workers were analyzed. Their correlation was determined by multiple regression analysis with SAS ver. 9.4. Results: Although the concentration of atmospheric VOCs in the residential areas were low at the time of survey, the levels of VOCs and PAHs metabolites in clean-up workers were higher than those in the control group after clean-up activities. The levels of urinary VOC and PAH metabolites were significantly increased after clean-up compared to those measured before participation. The thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) concentrations were also increased and showed significant correlations with those of metabolites of benzene. Conclusion: This study shows that oil spill clean-up activities affect exposure to VOCs and PAHs and the health of clean-up workers. The results suggest the need for check-ups of participants in oil spill cleaning work.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.574-589
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• 2006

Although concentrations of hazardous air pollutants(HAPs) are very low in the atmosphere, a growing attention has been paid on such compounds due to their high toxicity and bioaccumulation potentials into human body. In order to control and manage the amount of these materials in ambient air, it is necessary to construct monitoring system of them and to know the current concentration level of HAPs above all. In this work, a wide range of HAPs has been measured in metropolitan area to recognize the present state of HAPs in this area. The measured concentration of VOCs was higher in order of Jeonnongdong, Jeongdong, and Yangsuri. The regional difference of VOCs concentration was also highest in spring. Its total VOCs was ranged from $15.17{\sim}41.45$ ppb. Benzene $0.43{\sim}2.32$ ppb showed similar concentration level with the result of previous researches in Seoul. This value is a little higher than the average concentration 0.92 ppb for national ambient air quality standards in Japan. The concentration of aldehydes in this study was lower than those of other researches. Previous works in Seoul metropolitan area showed that the concentration of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde were higher than 5 ppb. The concentration of gaseous and particulate PAHs was high in order of winter, spring, and summer More than 90% of PAHs with low molecular weight such as 2-rings and 3-rings PAHs existed in gas phase. On the other hands, PAHs with high molecular weight more than 5-rings PAHs almost existed in particulate. In spring, the concentration of gaseous PAHs was 24.38 $ng/m^3$ in Jeongdong. Among the particulate PAHs, the concentrations of Naphthalene, Benzo(b)fluoranthene, and Benzo(g, h, i)perylene were higher than others. Especially, the concentration of Benzo(a)pyrene, a important carcinogenic pollutant, was highest in winter 0.5 $ng/m^3$ and ranged from 0.03 to 0.3 $ng/m^3$ in spring and summer, which is lower than the monitoring result in 90's. These components were mainly originated from the vehicle exhaust or heating equipment use.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.250-256
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• 2009

Toxicogenomics using microarray technology offers the ability to conduct large-scale detections and quantifications of mRNA transcripts, particularly those associated with alterations in mRNA stability or gene regulation. In this study, we developed the HazChem Human Array V2 using the Agilent Sure-Print technology-based custom array, which is expected to facilitate the identification of environmental toxicants. The array was manufactured using 600 VOCs and PAHs-specific genes identified in previous studies. In order to evaluate the viability of the manufactured HazChem human array V2, we analyzed the gene expression profiles of 9 environmental toxicants (6 VOCs chemicals and 3 PAHs chemicals). As a result, nine toxicants were separated into two chemical types-VOCs and PAHs. After the chip validations with VOCs and PAHs, we conducted an expression profiling comparison of additional chemical groups (POPs and EDCs) using data analysis methods such as hierarchical clustering, 1-way ANOVA, SAM, and PCA. We selected 58 genes that could be classified into four chemical types via statistical methods. Additionally, we selected 63 genes that evidenced significant alterations in expression with all 13 environmental toxicants. These results suggest that the HazChem Human Array V2 will expedite the development of a screening system for environmentally hazardous materials at the level of toxicogenomics in the future.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.205-216
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• 2003

We have gathered exposure data on ambient air quality level and investigated dose-response slope factors of air pollutants such as fine particle, HAPs (metals, VOCs, PAHs) and dioxins in Seoul. Theoretical mortality incidences were estimated from exposure to these pollutants. From the results, priorities were ranked in the order fine particle, metals, VOCs, dioxins and PAHs by ordinal scale, and the uncertainties relative to those risk estimates were described.

• Proceedings of the Korea Air Pollution Research Association Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.418-419
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• 2006

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.362-377
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• 2014

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been of particular concern since they are present both in the vapor and particulate phases in ambient air. In this study, a simple method was applied to determine the vapor phase PAHs, and the performance of the new method was evaluated with a conventional method. The simple method was based on adsorption sampling and thermal desorption with GC/MS analysis, which is generally applied to the determination of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the air. A combination of Carbotrap (300 mg) and Carbotrap-C (100 mg) sorbents was used as the adsorbent. Target compounds included two rings PAHs such as naphthalene, acenaphthylene, and acenaphthene. Among them, naphthalene was listed as one of the main HAPs together with a number of VOCs in petroleum refining industries in the USA. For comparison purposes, a method based on adsorption sampling and solvent extraction with GC/MS analysis was adopted, which is in principle same as the NIOSH 5515 method. The performance of the adsorption sampling and thermal desorption method was evaluated with respect to repeatabilities, detection limits, linearities, and storage stabilities for target compounds. The analytical repeatabilities of standard samples are all within 20%. Lower detection limits was estimated to be less than 0.1 ppbv. In the results from comparison studies between two methods for real air samples. Although the correlation coefficients were more than 0.9, a systematic difference between the two groups was revealed by the paired t-test (${\alpha}$=0.05). Concentrations of two-rings PAHs determined by adsorption and thermal desorption method consistently higher than those by solvent extraction method. The difference was caused by not only the poor sampling efficiencies of XAD-2 for target PAHs and but also sample losses during the solvent extraction and concentration procedure. This implies that the levels of lower molecular PAHs tend to be underestimated when determined by a conventional PAH method utilizing XAD-2 (and/or PUF) sampling and solvent extraction method. The adsorption sampling and thermal desorption with GC analysis is very simple, rapid, and reliable for lower-molecular weight PAHs. In addition, the method can be used for the measurement of VOCs in the air simultaneously. Therefore, we recommend that the determination of naphthalene, the most volatile PAH, will be better when it is measured by a VOC method instead of a conventional PAH method from a viewpoint of accuracy.

• Proceedings of the Korea Air Pollution Research Association Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.77-78
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• 2001

자동차는 차종, 차령 및 사용연료에 따라 매우 다양한 배출가스를 발생시키며 이러한 물질 중 CO, HC, NOx, PM 등은 배출가스 허용기준에 따라 규제되고 있다. 반면에 미량유해물질로서 자동차 배출가스에는 알데히드, PAHs, VOCs등은 인체위해성 및 대기중 오존생성원인물질로서 대기오염에 미치는 영향이 강조되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 자동차에서 배출되는 이들 물질중 VOCs 배출특성을 파악하여 배출 허용기준을 마련하기 위한 기초자료로서 이용하고, 이러한 결과를 토대로 미량유해물질에 대한 대기오염 관리대책을 마련하는데 기여하고자 하였다. (중략)

• Journal of ILASS-Korea
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.121-129
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• 2015

This study was designed to investigate the emission characteristics of unregulated pollutants (Aldehyde, VOCs, PAHs) as well as regulated pollutants (CO, HC, NOx and PM) from diesel medium-duty trucks. The emission characteristics of unregulated and regulated pollutants were assessed based on regulation standards (EURO 4 and EURO 5) and intake weight (2.5 ton and 5 ton). The results show that unregulated and regulated pollutants remained almost unchanged at higher speeds but decreased at below 23.5 km/h. Reduction in unregulated and regulated pollutants was noticeable in vehicles of recent regulation standards and light intake weight. The analysis of aldehyde using UPLC showed that formaldehyde and acetaldehyde of aldehyde were most dominant. The GC/MS analysis showed that benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene of VOCs was over 80% followed by toluene, xylene, ethylbenzene and benzene. In addition, the analysis of PAHs using GC/TOF-MS indicated that bi- and tricyclic aromatic ring of aromatic compounds was 73% and 53% at 2.5 ton and 5 ton vehicles, respectively. The results of this study will be contributed to establish HAPs inventory.