The subject of this paper is pollution characteristics and health risk assessment of carbonyl compounds in urban air. Carbonyl compounds are a kind of volatile organic compounds, which are aldehydes and ketones. The toxicity of the carbonyl compound adversely affects the human body, and it is also a primary pollutant and a secondary pollutant. Formaldehyde has been designated as a Class I substance of carcinogenicity in IARC and can cause eye, nose, throat stimulation, bronchial asthma, skin allergy.
The subject carbonyl compounds are 8 kind of substances including formaldehyde. Four sites in Busan were selected and sampled for 10 consecutive days, the samples were collected during the four seasons. The analytical method of this study was based on TO-11A, and DNPH cartridge coated with silica was used as the sampling medium. The collected samples were extracted with acetonitrile and finally analyzed by HPLC/UV. Statical analysis using SPSS was carried out to determine the characteristics of carbonyl compounds. In this study, we performed health risk assessment using risk weighted index and Monte Carlo simulation. Monte Carlo simulation is a probabilistic approach, which can lower the uncertainly of the exposure assessment.
In the measurement results of the carbonyl compounds revealed that all of the substances showed a high detection frequency of 90% or more. In terms of average concentration, formaldehyde was ranked first. The results showed that the highest concentrations of all carbonyl compounds were found in the industrial districts. Among them, the concentration difference between methyl ethyl ketone and industrial area was large. As a result of the seasonal concentration comparison, the concentration difference between the summer season and the other season was obvious. As a result of the tendency evaluation, the concentration of methyl ethyl ketone and acetone decreased during the weekend. This means that methyl ethyl ketone and acetone in the industrial complex are used for industrial purposes.
Principal component analysis was performed using standard materials and meteorological data. As a result, we found meaningful principal components by branch. Fugitive emissions were the most dominant at all four locations. As a result of the risk assessment, it was concluded that the risk of carcinogenicity was regulated by formaldehyde exceeding 10-6 at the hazard level of 95%, and that of noncarcinogenic substance exceeded 1 at the hazard level of 95%. In the case of Busan, it is thought that formaldehyde and acrolein should be designated as the first management substance.