Characteristics, influence factors, and health risk assessment of volatile organic compounds through one year of high-resolution measurement at a refinery. (June 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Feng, Yunxia; Ding, Dewu; Xiao, Anshan; Li, Bo; Jia, Runzhong; Guo, Yirong
• Is Part Of: Chemosphere. Volume 296(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-06
• Subjects: VOCs -- Hourly measurements -- Influence factors -- Diagnostic ratios -- Health risk assessment; Pollution -- Periodicals; Pollution -- Physiological effect -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Periodicals; Atmospheric chemistry -- Periodicals; 551.511
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134004
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0045-6535

Abstract

Abstract: From January 2020 to December 2020, high-resolution data of volatile organic compound (VOC) concentrations were monitored by online instruments at a petroleum refinery. The measurement results showed that the external contaminants, meteorological conditions and photochemical reactions had a great influence on the VOC data measured in the petroleum refineries. Some significant differences were observed in the emission composition of different refineries, while propene (34.2%), propane (10.2%), n -butane (5.6%), i -pentane (5.0%) were the dominant species emitted from the refinery in this study. The correlations between compounds with similar atmospheric lifetimes were strong (R 2 > 0.9), which indicated that the diagnostic ratios of these compounds could be used as indicators to identify the refinery emission source. Chronic health effects of non-carcinogenic risk results showed that acrolein had the highest non-carcinogenic risk and other compound-specific health risks may be of less concern in the refining area. Halogenates and aromatics accounted for 97.4% of the total carcinogenic risk values, while 1, 2-dibromoethane, chloromethane, benzene, trichloromethane, 1, 2-dichloroethane contributed approximately 80% of the total carcinogenic risk assessment values. This research has recorded valuable data about the VOC emission characteristics from the perspective of the high-resolution monitoring of the petroleum refinery. The results of this work will provide a reference to accurately quantify and identify the emission of petroleum refineries and further throw some light on effective VOC abatement strategies. Graphical abstract: Image 1 Highlights: One-year continuous measurements of 107 VOC species were conducted at a refinery. Environmental factors had a great influence on VOC emission measurements of refinery. Marked differences were found in VOC emission characteristics of various refineries. Diagnostic ratios of special VOCs were used to identify the refinery emission source. Halogenates and aromatics accounted for 97.4% of the total carcinogenic risk values.