Toxic volatile organic chemicals in urban air in Illinois

Technical Report · Tue Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1991

OSTI ID:5935663

Sweet, C W; Vermette, S J

The airborne concentrations and sources of 13 toxic volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) were evaluated in three urban areas in Illinois: southeast Chicago, East St. Louis and Granite City. VOC concentrations and meteorology were monitored between May 1986 and April 1990. Using emissions inventories and source signatures developed for the study areas, the authors applied wind trajectory analysis, factor analysis and chemical mass balance to the data. The statistical analysis indicates that most of the toxic VOCs in the study areas come from urban area sources such as vehicle exhaust, evaporation of petroleum products, and solvent emissions by commercial and industrial sources. Emissions of benzene from coke ovens in Chicago and several aromatic and chlorinated hydrocarbons from a chemical complex in Sauget produce high concentrations of these chemicals in ambient air within 1 km of these sources. However, these emissions do not have a large impact on the overall air quality in the study areas. The authors conclude that to reduce average concentrations of the target VOCs in the study areas, controls on area sources would be most effective. Additional controls on large industrial point sources would help reduce ambient levels of toxic VOCs within 1 km of these sources.

• Research Organization: Illinois Dept. of Energy and Natural Resources, Champaign, IL (United States). Hazardous Waste Research and Information Center
• OSTI ID: 5935663
• Report Number(s): PB-92-113737/XAB; HWRIC-RR--057
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
560300 -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AIR POLLUTION
AIR POLLUTION MONITORING
AROMATICS
BENZENE
CHLORINATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
FEDERAL REGION V
HALOGENATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
HYDROCARBONS
ILLINOIS
MATERIALS
MATTER
METEOROLOGY
MONITORING
NORTH AMERICA
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
POLLUTION SOURCES
TOXIC MATERIALS
URBAN AREAS
USA
VOLATILE MATTER