Determination of Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons in Domestic, Commercial and Industrial soot samples

Abstract Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were determined in domestic, commercial and industrial soot samples via HPLC. The study showed that benzo[a]pyrene (bap) was not present in most of the samples. The highest quantity of BaP was found in Pakistan Particle Board where its concentration was 259.12 mg/kg. The high quantity of other PAHs such as chrysene (CHR), anthracene (ANT), fluorene (FL), naphthalene (NAP), phenanthrene (PHE), acenaphthylene (ACP) and flouranthene (FTH) were found in tandoor, kabab karayi, tabakhee, brick kiln and motor car soot samples. The low concentration of most of the PAH compounds in most of the samples might be due to their photooxidative, biological and microbial degradation.