Survey of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and nitrated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Jiaxing city, China

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) and nitrated PAH (NPAH) products are toxic. Thus, determination of their concentrations is of great interest to researchers of soil and water pollution control. In this work, soil samples, surface water samples, and groundwater samples were collected, and the concentrations of 16 priority PAHs and 15 NPAHs were determined using an HPLC-ultraviolet detector. Results showed that the total PAH concentrations ranged within 489.69–1,670.11 ng/g (average = 905.89 ng/g) in soil samples, 4.00–23.4 μg/l (average = 9.84 μg/l) in surface water samples, and 2.14–22.3 μg/l (average = 8.37 μg/l) in groundwater samples. The NPAH concentrations were one to two orders of magnitude lower than the PAH concentrations and ranged within 22.72–128.70 ng/g (average = 63.88 ng/g) in soil samples. 2-Nitropyrene and 6-nitrochrysene were the most abundant compounds, accounting for about 14.3 and 26.5 %, respectively. Source analysis revealed that most PAHs originated from coal combustion around the study area, whereas NPAH studies suggested that the primary emission of gasoline engines and daytime OH reactions were the dominant sources of these compounds.