Moradi Maryam, Eng Anita, Staebler Ralf, Harner Tom
Air Quality Processes Research Section, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 4905 Dufferin Street, Toronto, ON, M3H 5T4, Canada.
Air Quality Processes Research Section, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 4905 Dufferin Street, Toronto, ON, M3H 5T4, Canada.
Chemosphere. 2023 Dec;345:140423. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.140423. Epub 2023 Oct 13.
A mapping study targeting emissions of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) from an oil sands tailings pond was undertaken in the Athabasca Oil sands Region (AOSR). Ten passive air samplers comprising polyurethane foam (PUF) disks were deployed around the perimeter of Suncor Tailings Pond 2/3 for a five-week period to generate time-integrated concentrations in air for PACs, which included ∑unsubstituted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), ∑alkylated PAHs (alk-PAHs), and ∑dibenzothiophenes (DBTs) (both unsubstituted and alkylated). Concentrations in air ranged from 13 to 70, 220-970, and 30-210 ng/m, respectively, and were elevated in samplers downwind of the tailings pond. PAC emissions to air from the pond were estimated using only the air-side concentration information by applying a simplified Gaussian dispersion model and found to be 896 μg/m/day. ∑alk-PAHs and ∑DBTs had the highest contribution to the total PAC fluxes (79% and 16%, respectively). This flux estimate for PACs is equivalent to 460 kg on an annual basis and 35 000 kg/year when scaled to represent all tailings ponds in the region. The results generally agree with fluxes estimated from coupled high volume air sampling data and tailings pond water concentrations from the same field study but which are complicated due to uncertainties associated with the use of pure water Henry's Law values for tailings pond water as well as the potential for surface oily films on the tailings ponds to impact water-air exchange of PACs. Overall, these findings support the use of relatively simple and electricity-free PUF disk samplers for mapping and estimating emissions from area sources such as tailings ponds, using only air-side concentration information.
在阿萨巴斯卡油砂地区（AOSR）开展了一项针对油砂尾矿池多环芳烃化合物（PACs）排放的映射研究。在森科尔2/3号尾矿池周边部署了10个由聚氨酯泡沫（PUF）圆盘组成的被动空气采样器，为期五周，以生成空气中PACs的时间积分浓度，其中包括∑未取代多环芳烃（PAHs）、∑烷基化PAHs（alk-PAHs）和∑二苯并噻吩（DBTs）（未取代和烷基化的）。空气中的浓度分别为13至70、220 - 970和30 - 210 ng/m，且在尾矿池下风处的采样器中浓度升高。通过应用简化的高斯扩散模型，仅利用空气侧浓度信息估算了尾矿池向空气中的PACs排放量，结果为896 μg/m/天。∑alk-PAHs和∑DBTs对总PAC通量的贡献最大（分别为79%和16%）。该PAC通量估算值按年计算相当于460千克，若按比例代表该地区所有尾矿池，则为每年35000千克。研究结果总体上与同一实地研究中结合高容量空气采样数据和尾矿池水浓度估算的通量一致，但由于使用尾矿池水的纯水亨利定律值存在不确定性，以及尾矿池表面油膜可能影响PACs的水 - 空气交换，使得情况较为复杂。总体而言，这些发现支持使用相对简单且无需电力的PUF圆盘采样器仅利用空气侧浓度信息来绘制和估算尾矿池等面源的排放情况。
