This research conducted an analysis of 14 Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in gas and particle-phase in ambient air in Hochiminh City to investigate their occurence and the gas/particle distribution. | Vietnam Journal of Science and Technology 55 (4C) (2017) 97-102 GAS–PARTICLE PARTITIONING OF POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS - PAHs IN AMBIENT AIR IN HOCHIMINH CITY Nguyen Doan Thien Chi1, Le Xuan Vinh1, Duong Huu Huy1, Norimichi Takenaka2, To Thi Hien1 1 Faculty of Environment, University of Science, VNU-HCMC, 227 Nguyen Van Cu street, Dist 5, Hochiminh City, Vietnam 2 Osaka Prefecture University, 1-1 Gakuen-cho, Naka-ku Sakai 599-8531, Japan * Email: ndtchi@ Received: ; Accepted for publication: 19 October 2017 ABSTRACT This research conducted an analysis of 14 Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in gas and particle-phase in ambient air in Hochiminh City to investigate their occurence and the gas/particle distribution. Gas and particle samples were collected from June to August 2015 in Hochiminh City and PAHs were treated and analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC/FLD). Results showed that average concentration of 14 PAHs were from to ng/m3 and from to 133 ng/m3 in particlephase and in gas-phase, respectively. The concentration of PAHs in the gas-phase accounted for more than 80% of total PAHs concentration in which low molecular weight PAHs as the dominant PAHs. Meanwhile, high molecular weight PAHs distributed mainly in particle-phase. The particle-phase fraction Φ was obtained to understand the partitioning. Keywords: Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), gas/particle partitioning, High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), Hochiminh City. 1. INTRODUCTION Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are widely distributed to environmental pollutants. They are products of the incomplete combustion of organic matter. Anthropogenic emission sources of PAHs in the atmosphere include traffic, domestic heating, oil refining and other industrial processes [1, 2]. PAHs are ubiquitous constituents of urban airborne particulates and are of major health concern mainly due to their .
