Author(s)

Nedim Vardar, Ziad Chemseddine, Juan Santos

Department of Natural Science, Inter American University, Bayamon, PR, 00957.
School of Engineering, Inter American University, Bayamon, PR, 00957.

Passive sampling for the monitoring of organic pollutants (PAHs, PCBs, PBDEs) in ambient air has received increased attention in the last two decades. However, the accuracy of the concentration of organics obtained with passive samplers under varying environmental conditions is a subject of controversy. In this study, effect of ambient temperature on passive samplers was evaluated by using three different sampler configurations. Additionally, passive samplers with polyurethane disks (PUF) were applied throughout the Island for the determination of the airborne concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The passive samplers were deployed in seven municipalities for three-month periods in two different sampling campaigns, representing hurricane and non-hurricane seasons. Here we present preliminary results obtained from those sampling campaigns. The total concentrations of 15 PAHs varied from 3.1 to 19.6 and from 5.5 to 38.5 ng/m³ for hurricane and non-hurricane seasons, respectively. Hurricane and non-hurricane season concentrations of PAH were significantly different for the samples taken in the northern municipalities of the Island. However, there was no significant difference in PAH concentrations between the hurricane and non-hurricane seasons for the southern sites. Increased rainfall and high-relative humidity during the hurricane season had an influence on the concentrations of PAHs derived by the passive PUF sampler.

Passive Sampler; PAH; Puerto Rico; Hurricane; PUF; Ambient Temperature

Vardar, N. , Chemseddine, Z. and Santos, J. (2013) Effect of Ambient Temperature on PUF Passive Samplers and PAHs Distribution in Puerto Rico. Computational Water, Energy, and Environmental Engineering, 2, 41-45. doi: 10.4236/cweee.2013.22B007.