MAX-DOAS and in-situ measurements of aerosols and trace gases over Dongying, China: Insight into ozone formation sensitivity based on secondary HCHO

Unveiling sources, contamination, and eco-human health implications of potentially toxic metals from urban road dust

To investigate the pollution characteristics, ecological and health risks assessment, and source apportionment of potentially toxic metal(loid)s (PTMs) in urban road dust, 140 dust samples collected from eight renowned roads of city Lahore, Pakistan. The geo-accumulation index (Igeo) and enrichment factor (EF) were used for pollution characteristics, modified ecological risk index used for ecological risk assessment, the USEPA models used for health risk assessment, and multivariate statistical analyses were used for source apportionment of PTMs. The ranges of average concentrations (mgkg-1) in road dust Cd, Hg, Mo, and Pb were 1.91 (CR) to 3.35 (BR), 11.7 (JR) to 29.3 (MuR), 452 (JR) to 1115 (MuR), and 36.9 (MaR) to 110 (BR), respectively, which were several times higher than reference values. The Cd was moderate to highly polluted in road dust with highest Igeo=2.58 from MuR and EF = 26.9 from CR. Whereas Hg and Mo were categorized as extremely polluted PTMs with mean Igeo and EF values beyond the uppermost level (class 5). The road dust collected from mall road (MaR) was polluted with high levels of most of the PTMs among other roads. The adjacent areas of roads were at extreme ecological risks due to Cd, Hg, and Mo pollution. The employed statistical methods proved that PTMs pollution was induced severely by industrial, exhaustive, and non-exhaustive vehicular emissions in road dust. The Hg pollution in road dust was causing potential non-carcinogenic risks in children with HQing and HI higher than 1. No carcinogenic risk was found for both adults and children. The study helps to create awareness about PTMs' pollution and associated health concerns among public.

VOCs hyperspectral imaging: A new insight into evaluate emissions and the corresponding health risk from industries

The harm of VOCs emitted from industries to surrounding atmospheric environment and human health was well known and had received continuous attention. In order to improve the quality of urban atmospheric environment and the living environment of urban residents, a large number of original urban industries had been relocated to economically underdeveloped suburbs, which has significantly deteriorated the atmospheric environment in these areas and brought potential health risks to local vulnerable residents, which is actually an unfair manifestation under the background of economic development and ecological civilization construction. There were many residents near industrial parks, but there was a significant lack of VOCs monitoring equipment and data. At present, the time resolution of the most commonly used in situ method was seriously insufficient, and it was unable to quantify the diffusion/transport process of VOCs. It was urgent to have effective detection methods for industrial VOCs plume concentration and diffusion/transport process. In this study, we proposed a hyperspectral imaging technology, which can realize long-term continuous imaging monitoring on plume concentrations of formaldehyde (HCHO), glyoxal (CHOCHO) and benzaldehyde (C6H5CHO) and their corresponding diffusion processes. The deviation between the imaging and in situ sampling concentrations in the outlet was 4-19 %. The spatial resolution of this technique reached meter level, and the temporal resolution of one pixel was better than 20 s. In this study, we carried out hyperspectral imaging of aldehyde VOCs for a chemical facility, a petrochemical facility and an industrial park containing various types of enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta. The maximum observed concentration of HCHO was 120.44 ± 12.14 ug/m3 with the emission flux of 39.27 ± 3.97 g/h, which was emitted from a petrochemical facility in Shanghai. A diffusion/transport model was established, and we found that the spatial distribution of HCHO, CHOCHO and C6H5CHO for the chemical facility case in Shanghai were all mainly along the southeast-northwest direction during one year. The health risk assessment emphasized that residents within 10 km north of the outlet of the chemical facility in Shanghai should pay more attention to the health risks caused by industrial HCHO emissions. More systematically and comprehensively hyperspectral imaging of VOCs emissions for different types of enterprises and different processes were expected to performed to greatly promote the establishment of a dynamic emission inventory and an effective health risk evaluation system in the future.