Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) pollution in soils around industrial institutions

Soil pollution is known as one of the most important environmental problems today. Air pollution caused by industrial activities, thermal power plants, exhaust or heating-based polluting gases affects the ecological status of the soil. In addition, in regions where urbanization and industrialization are intense, the soil is significantly affected. Polyaromatic hydrocarbons are organic pollutants in the soil and are carcinogenic. It is important to carry out all necessary studies to reduce and prevent such an important pollution. Kocaeli Dilovası, where important industrial establishments are located, was chosen as the study area because of its constant exposure to pollution. A point modeling study was conducted by using certain approaches and calculating the PAH pollution of the chimney-induced emissions that may be caused by the iron and steel factories and thermal power plant existing in the region. In this study, the AERMOD program developed by the EPA and the American Meteorological Society (AMS) was used. PAH parameters were analyzed by taking 5 soil samples from the peaks where pollution can be intense and 1 soil sample from the reference point determined in the studied model. It is aimed to compare the analysis results with the Polyaromatic hydrocarbon compounds mentioned in the Regulation on Soil Pollution Control and Point Source Contaminated Site. In the study, the soil samples were subjected to various pre-treatments before being given to the GS-MS device. The analyzed PAH parameters were converted to mg/kg and compared with the relevant regulation. As a result, when the measured values were compared with the limit values of the regulation, it was observed that the analysis results were below the limit values and that only the benzo(a)pyrene parameter passed the sampled N4 point with a small margin. Keywords: PAH, Modeling, AERMOD, Soil Pollution