A Preliminary Study on Pollution of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Soil around a Thermal Power Plant of Xi'an City

To understand the status and risk of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) pollution in industrial areas in China. The total of 4 surface soil samples were collected from a thermal power plant of Xi’an. The concentrations of 16 priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In addition, the composition, source, pollution level and risk assessment of PAHs in surface soil of thermal power plant were studied. The results showed that the total concentrations of 16 PAHs ranged from 3.28 to 8.88 μg•g-1, with a mean of 5.52 μg•g-1. The concentration of 7 carcinogenic PAHs (Σ7CPAHs) ranged from 1.52 to 4.82 μg•g-1, with a mean of 2.60 μg•g-1. The ∑PAHs in around thermal power plant surface soils of Xi’an belonged to serious pollution level. The PAHs in present study were mainly composed of medium molecular weight PAHs and high molecular weight PAHs, which have strong three effects. The results of source analysis showed that the PAHs in surface soil were mainly originated from the combustion of fossil oil, coal, wood and other biomass. The results of ecological risks of PAHs in the surface soil showed that all samples were polluted generally. The potential ecological risk of PAHs belonged to the serious level in individual PAHs and samples. There are two samples value of TEQBap exceed the security value 0.600 μg•g-1. Therefore, the environment of industrial areas should be attention and controlled