Assessment of Air Pollution with Benzene and Benzo [A] Pyrene in Regions in North-East Bulgaria
Rozalina Chuturkova
Rozalina Chuturkova, Assoc. Prof., Department of Ecology and Environmental Protection, Technical University, Varna, Bulgaria.
Manuscript received on February 02, 2016. | Revised Manuscript received on February 03, 2016. | Manuscript published on February 20, 2016. | PP: 1-8 | Volume-4 Issue-1, February 2016. | Retrieval Number: A0680024116/2016©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: An assessment is made of air pollution with benzene and benzo[a]pyrene (ВаР) for the period 2007-2014 in three regions of North-East Bulgaria, where automated measurement stations for monitoring air quality are located. An urban station and a traffic oriented station in the city of Varna, as well as an industrially oriented station in the town of Devnya have been included. The seasonal, annual and diurnal variations of the benzene and ВаР concentrations in air are studied. The results from the monitoring are processed applying Student-Fisher’s t-distribution criterion. The results reveal a descending trend in air pollution with benzene at the urban background station in the city of Varna and the industrially oriented station in the town of Devnya during the period of monitoring, with high statistical significance of the decrease (0,001 ≤ Р ≤ 0.05). The average annual concentrations of benzene do not exceed the human health safety norm (5µg/m3 ). At the traffic oriented station in the city of Varna the average annual concentrations of benzene and ВаР vary, without delineating a specific trend. There are certain seasonal variations in benzene and ВаР pollution – higher concentrations during the cold months of the year. The seasonal dynamics are supported by the diurnal variations of the pollutants. Measures are proposed for the reduction of carcinogenic pollutant emissions and a decrease in human exposure to them.
Keywords: Benzene, ВаР, air, pollution, seasonal variations