Measurement of volatile organic compounds in urban air of La Coruna, Spain

Twenty-eight volatile organic compounds have been measured in a 3-month monitoring campaign. The sampling point is located in the urban centre of La Coruna, a medium-size town in the Northwest of Spain. Only a petrol refinery can be considered as an important point VOCs source in its surrounding area. The municipal landfill collapsed in September 1996, and rebuilding works caused strong odour episodes at the urban centre. We tried to check how this problem affected urban air quality. Samples were taken with Tenax-TA tubes and analysed by thermal desorption-GC-MS. From the results obtained, traffic emissions were recognised as the main VOCs source in the sampling zone. On November 9th a contamination episode took place. Aromatic and aliphatic compounds levels were probably affected by emissions from fuel treatment processes in a nearby petrol refinery. No influence on quantified VOCs concentrations from the remaking landfill works was observed. Several compounds (organosulphurs, esters and alcohols) were recognised as the cause of odour problems.