[PUF passive air sampling of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in atmosphere of the Yangtze River Delta, China: spatio-temporal distribution and potential sources].

Atmosphere is regarded to be an important media in the environmental pollution research area. Passive air sampling was one of the effective complementary sampling techniques for the active high volume air sampler in recent decades. A regional scale investigation on the atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was conducted in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD). Polyurethane foam based passive air samplers were used to collect the atmospheric PAHs from 31 sampling sites in this area. PAHs concentrations ranged from 10.1 ng x m(-1) to 367 ng x m(-3) in this study. The annual average concentration of benzo [a] pyrene (BaP) reached 2.25 ng x m(-3), which was two times higher exceeding the national standard, GB 3095-2012. The atmospheric PAHs during four seasons decreased in the following order: autumn > winter > spring > summer. Larger BaP excessive areas were found in autumn and winter than other seasons. Moreover, an obvious emission of BaP was confirmed during the winter time. Traffic related petroleum combustion, coal and biomass burning, and coke oven were identified as potential sources of atmospheric PAHs, contributing 38.1%, 42.4%, and 19.5%, respectively.