Application of Chemical Mass Balance Model for Source Apportionment of PAHs in Estuarine Sediments from Yellow River, China

Concentrations of 16 PAHs in estuarine surface sediments from the Yellow River were analyzed quantitatively with Shimadzu GCMS-QP2010. The total concentrations of PAHs varied from 38.75 to 135.72 ng.g(-1) with a mean value of 72.7 ng.g(-1) and the proportion of 2-4 ring PAHs was dominant in all stations. The total PAHs concentration was at lower level compared to other estuarine environments and bays. A chemical mass balance model (CMB8.2) was used to apportion the major sources of PAHs in 8 surface sediments. Source profiles were collected from the literature to establish the fingerprints of PAH sources. The fingerprints-of six sources were established, including oil and asphalt refinery, industrial coal burning, civil coal burning, gasoline engine exhaust, diesel engine exhaust and. diesel-fuel leak. The results indicated that oil and asphalt refinery and coal burning were the two major sources of PAHs in surface sediments from the Yellow River estuary. The relative contribution front oil and asphalt refinery ranges from 2.5% to 86.6% of all sources, and that from civil coal burning ranges from 2.1% to 55.1%.