Volatile organic compounds (VOC) at some sewage treatment plants in Poland

1996 ◽  
Vol 33 (12) ◽  
pp. 273-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Suschka ◽  
Bozena Mrowiec ◽  
Grazyna Kuszmider

Volatile organic compounds have been measured at two relatively large sewage treatment plants. Quantitative estimation of benzene, toluene, m.p-xylene, o-xylene and isopropylbenzene have been made for raw sewage, sewage after primary treatment and after biological treatment. Also measurements of 14 different volatile organic compounds in the ambient air, close to screens, and the air above (0.5 m above) aeration tanks have been done. Tests on air stripping of added volatile organic compounds to clean water have been performed in parallel in the laboratory. The removal of examined VOCs in full scale treatment plants was very much below the expected level. In the low loaded activated sludge process the removal was between 2 and 56%, depending on the compound considered. The behavior of volatile organic compounds in laboratory tests was very much different. The concentration of VOCs in the air of rooms where bar racks have been installed was found to be very high. The concentration of toluene in the ambient air could be as high as 460 μg/m3.

Author(s):  
Lyazzat Serik ◽  
Olga Ibragimova ◽  
Gulim Ussenova ◽  
Nassiba Baimatova

The pollution of ambient air is one of the main sources of risk to human health in the world. There is a direct relationship between the level of air pollution and risk of the development of cancer, cardiovascular, respiratory and other diseases. Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and o-xylene (BTEX) are one of the most toxic volatile organic compounds. The aim of this study was to quantify BTEX in air of Taldykorgan, Kazakhstan using solid-phase microextraction followed by gas chromatography with mass-spectrometric detection. In different sampling seasons, average concentrations of four BTEX analytes varied from 7.5 to 27 µg/m3, from 15 to 250 µg/m3, from 2.4 to 12.8 µg/m3 and from 2.6 to 21 µg/m3, respectively. The highest concentrations of TEX were detected in autumn, while the highest concentrations of benzene were observed in winter. Toluene-to-benzene ratios in almost all measurements were above 1 indicating that the traffic emissions are the main source of air pollution with BTEX.


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1592
Author(s):  
Olga P. Ibragimova ◽  
Anara Omarova ◽  
Bauyrzhan Bukenov ◽  
Aray Zhakupbekova ◽  
Nassiba Baimatova

Air pollution is one of the primary sources of risk to human health in the world. In this study, seasonal and spatial variations of multiple volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were measured at six sampling sites in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The seasonal and spatial variations of 19 VOCs were evaluated in 2020, including the periods before and after COVID-19 lockdown. The concentrations of 9 out of 19 VOCs had been changed significantly (p < 0.01) during 2020. The maximum concentrations of total VOCs (TVOCs) were observed on 15, 17, and 19 January and ranged from 233 to 420 µg m−3. The spatial distribution of TVOCs concentrations in the air during sampling seasons correlated with the elevation and increased from southern to northern part of Almaty, where Combined Heat and Power Plants are located. The sources of air pollution by VOCs were studied by correlations analysis and BTEX ratios. The ranges of toluene to benzene ratio and benzene, toluene, and ethylbenzene demonstrated two primary sources of BTEX in 2020: traffic emissions and biomass/biofuel/coal burning. Most of m-, p-xylenes to ethylbenzene ratios in this study were lower than 3 in all sampling periods, evidencing the presence of aged air masses at studied sampling sites from remote sources.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document