PAHs and BTEX in Groundwater of Gasoline Stations from Rio de Janeiro City, Brazil (original) (raw)
2007, Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology
PAHs and BTEX were studied in groundwater from monitoring wells of gasoline stations of Rio de Janeiro City, Brazil during 2003 and 2004. Total PAH concentration ranged from 0.05 to 84.9 lg/L. Total BTEX concentration varied between not-detected to 3.6 9 10 3 lg/L. Some samples exceeded the maximum concentration limit of Brazilian regulations for benzene in fresh or drinking water. Carcinogenic PAHs were found in few samples but only one sample in each year exceeded the regulated concentrations for benzo[a]pyrene. The concentrations of PAHs and BTEX indicate that some places may be contaminated by gasoline leakage. Keywords Groundwater Á PAHs Á BTEX Á Fuel stations Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are environmental contaminants of concern since many of them and many PAH mixtures exhibit mutagenic and/or pro-carcinogenic properties to humans (IPCS 1998; Pereira Netto et al. 2000). Among the monoaromatic hydrocarbons, benzene is the most harmful compound with well known carcinogenic properties and it is classified as carcinogenic to humans (IARC 2007). The other monoaromatic hydrocarbons (toluene, xylenes and ethylbenzene) are less toxic (IPCS 1996b, 1997) but they are of concern at least because they add odor or taste to water at ppm concentrations (Day et al. 2001). Gasoline and other petroleum derived fuels are complex mixtures that contain many hydrocarbon families such as normal, branched and cyclo-alkanes and alkenes, lower concentrations of monoaromatic hydrocarbons (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes-BTEX) and higher alkylated aromatic hydrocarbons, PAHs and fuel additives (IPCS 1996a; Lee et al. 1992; Odermatt 1994). Fuel composition depends also on crude oil sources, the degree of chemical modifications (cracking or reforming) and petroleum fractionation. Many minor fuel components are of interest due to their toxicology. This is the case of PAHs and BTEX that have been studied in many media including air, water and soil (IPCS 1998; Menchini et al. 1999; Monod et al. 2001; Pereira Netto et al. 2002a, b, 2004). There is concern on gasoline leakage of underground storage tanks since hydrocarbons and other compounds can be released into the soil leading to soil and/ or groundwater contamination (
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