title: Identification of stationary sources of air pollutants by concentration statistical analysis.
abstract: The atmospheric concentrations of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and isomeric xylenes (BTEX) in a medium-sized town (S. Maria Capua Vetere, about 32000 inhabitants, Southern Italy) have been determined during working days and weekends in 2006. The procedure used was 24h passive adsorption by samplers distributed throughout the town followed by GC/MS analysis. On a yearly base, the arithmetic mean benzene concentrations were above the limit required by the 2000/69/CE European Directive. The Pearson correlation coefficients of the 24h geometric mean BTEX concentrations were indicative of stationary sources of toluene located in a well circumscribed area of the urban territory, active only during the working days and not officially recognized. The results highlight the effectiveness of the statistical approach used in this study for the identification of pollutant sources.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, Second University of Naples, via Vivaldi 43, 81100 Caserta, Italy.
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Iovino
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Salvestrini
authors.forename: Sante
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Capasso
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D005843:Geography; D007558:Italy; D014992:Xylenes / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D014992:Xylenes