Relationship between concentration of pyrene and aerosol size distribution in traffic exhausts in Taipei, Taiwan

Arch Environ Health. 2003 Oct;58(10):624-32. doi: 10.3200/AEOH.58.10.624-632.

Abstract

Variations in pyrene concentrations in motor-vehicle emissions were assessed on the basis of aerodynamic particle size and by the type of vehicle (i.e., car, truck, or bus) that passed through a Taipei, Taiwan, highway toll station. Airborne particles were collected with 8-stage cascade samplers equipped with 34-mm polyvinyl chloride filters and located in the breathing zones of toll-station workers. The authors used gas chromatography/mass spectrometry to analyze 22 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that were collected. The absolute concentration of pyrene was highest in the fine-particle emission fraction for trucks, buses, and passenger cars; however, fine particles in truck and bus exhausts contained higher pyrene concentrations than the corresponding size fraction of particles emitted from passenger cars. Truck and bus emissions contained a higher concentration of pyrene than car emissions because trucks and buses produced greater amounts of fine and coarse particles, and their fine particles contained higher concentrations of pyrene.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Meteorological Concepts
  • Motor Vehicles
  • Particle Size*
  • Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / analysis
  • Pyrenes / analysis*
  • Taiwan
  • Vehicle Emissions / analysis*

Substances

  • Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
  • Pyrenes
  • Vehicle Emissions