title: BTEX pollution caused by motorcycles in the megacity of HoChiMinh.
abstract: Monitoring of benzene, toluene and xylenes (BTEX) was conducted along with traffic counts at 17 roadside sites in urban areas of HoChiMinh. Toluene was the most abundant substance, followed by p,m-xylenes, benzene, o-xylene and ethylbenzene. The maximum observed hour-average benzene concentration was 254 microg/m3. Motorcycles contributed to 91% of the traffic fleet. High correlations among BTEX species, between BTEX concentrations and the volume of on-road motorcycles, and between inter-species ratios in air and in gasoline indicate the motorcycle-exhaust origin of BTEX species. Daily concentrations of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, p,m-xylenes and o-xylene were 56, 121, 21, 64 and 23 microg/m3, respectively, p,m-xylenes possess the highest ozone formation potential among the BTEX family.
authors.affiliation: University of Science, Vietnam National University, 227 Nguyen Van Cu, HoChiMinh 70000, Vietnam. ttnlan@hcmus.edu.vn
authors.forename: Tran Thi Ngoc
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.forename: Pham Anh
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Minh
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D001554:Benzene / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D009049:Motorcycles; D014050:Toluene / Q000032:analysis*; D001335:Vehicle Emissions / Q000032:analysis; D014992:Xylenes / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D001335:Vehicle Emissions; D014992:Xylenes; D014050:Toluene; D001554:Benzene