Occurrence, and sources of persistent organic pollutants in upper urban soil of Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Mihaela-Cătălina HERGHELEGIU; Vlad-Alexandru PĂNESCU

doi:10.24193/subbambientum.2022.04

Authors

Mihaela-Cătălina HERGHELEGIU Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, 30 Fântânele Street, 400294 Cluj-Napoca, Romania https://orcid.org/0009-0003-5675-5293
Vlad-Alexandru PĂNESCU Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, 30 Fântânele Street, 400294 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Babeş-Bolyai University, Raluca Ripan Institute for Research in Chemistry, 30 Fântânele Street, 400294 Cluj-Napoca, Romania, vlad.panescu@ubbcluj.ro https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0006-6412

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24193/subbambientum.2022.04

Keywords:

persistent organic pollutants, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, organochlorine pesticides, upper urban soil

Abstract

Most persistent organic pollutants (POPs) were made for specific purposes due to certain characteristic and properties. They can cause various diseases and are problematic for the environment due to their high persistence and toxicity. This study attests the presence of three classes of POPs namely polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the upper urban soils of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Soil samples were collected from 10 sampling points areas with heavy traffic. For determination of the compounds, gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry and with electron capture detector was used. The obtained results indicate a low level of pollution, the concentrations ranging between 8.83–184.92 ng/g for PAHs, 5.36–112.35 ng/g for PCBs, and 25.96–334.83 ng/g for OCPs. To identify the pollution emission sources, different PAHs and OCPs diagnostic ratios have been applied.

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