Characteristics of Airborne Volatile Aromatics in Tainan, Taiwan

Abstract

Ambient air samples were collected using Tenax-TA adsorbents at sites of tunnels and urban areas in Tainan, Taiwan, and a remote recreation area and national park in central Taiwan. A gas chromatograph equipped with mass spectrometry was then used to analyze volatile aromatics in the samples. Experimental data indicate that the airborne concentration at the national park was very low, as expected. The concentrations in motorcycle and car tunnels were significantly higher than those in the background by two orders of magnitude. To further explore the impact of vehicle exhaust on the airborne aromatic contents in Tainan, characteristic ratios were used to evaluate the experimental data. The characteristic ratios for the tunnels, urban area, and the national park were found to be different.