Author(s)

D. Majumdar, A. K. Mukherjeea, S. Sen

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The environmental fate, global warming effect and human health risk from mono aromatic VOCs are of major concerns among many consequences of their anthropogenic emission. In more than a yearlong study (November 2003 to February 2005) of the city air in Kolkata, India at different seasons in three different sites, the seasonal mean benzene and toluene concentrations varied between 13.8–72.0 μg/m3 and 21.0–83.2 μg/m3 respectively along all the sites. The environmental distribution and load of BTEX (Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene and isomers of Xylene) in different environmental compartment was estimated using a multimedia mass balance model, TaPL3. The total environmental load of BTEX together was estimated to be 9.7 × 104 kg. Contribution of Kolkata metropolitan city towards global warming due to environmental emission of BTEX has been estimated as 1.9 × 105 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year which is about 1.1% of yearly direct CO2 emission the city. The consequence of BTEX emission towards human health has been estimated in terms of non-cancer and cancer risk in population due to their inhalation exposure. The cumulative lifetime cancer risk for benzene and ethylbenzene was found to be higher than the acceptable value and range between 3.0 × 105 and 8.9 × 106 in three sites, although the non-cancer health risk was found to be within acceptable limit.

Multimedia Mass Balance, Seasonal Variation, Global Warming, Health Risk, Kolkata

D. Majumdar, A. Mukherjeea and S. Sen, "BTEX in Ambient Air of a Metropolitan City," Journal of Environmental Protection, Vol. 2 No. 1, 2011, pp. 11-20. doi: 10.4236/jep.2011.21002.