Simultaneous monitoring method of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and persistent organic pollutants in the atmosphere using activated carbon fiber filter paper.

In order to simultaneously monitor the concentrations of PAHs and POPs in the atmosphere, an activated carbon fiber filter paper (ACFP) was used as the adsorbing material in this study. The pressurized liquid extraction method (PLE method) was used to extract PAHs and POPs collected on the ACFP. Toluene was an effective solvent to extract them from ACFP using the PLE method, but some of PAHs, such as benzo(a)pyrene, benzo(g,h,i)perylene, dibenzo(a,h)anthracene and indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene, were hardly extracted. These PAHs were adsorbed on the particulate matter in the atmosphere. In general, these forms of particulate matter could be collected using a quartz fiber paper (QFP); these PAHs were efficiently extracted from the QFP using the PLE method with toluene. In this study, the collecting method of the PAHs was modified by using QFP overlapped in front of the ACFP. Atmospheric monitoring of PAHs and POPs in Niigata area was performed using this method, and most of the target compounds were detected. However, some of the POPs, such as aldrin, endrin, mirex, could not be detected. The POPs, such as hexachlorobenzene, alpha-hexachlorocyclohexane and chlordanes, and most of the PAHs were detected from all of the samples collected throughout the monitoring period. It was confirmed that these methods were effective to simultaneously monitor the concentrations of the PAHs and POPs in the atmosphere.