AMBIENT VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS (VOCS) AT AN AGRICULTURAL AREA OF KANPUR

The presence of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) in air, as defined by the World Health Organization, has in pastdecades often been associated with adverse health effects. Thus, an investigation of ambient VOCs (benzene, toluene andxylene) was conducted at agricultural area in Kanpur for a span of one year in order to ascertain the contamination levels.Low volume samplers were used for measuring the levels of BTX. The samples were extracted with carbon disulphide byoccasional agitation. The aromatic fraction was subjected to GC-FID. The average concentration of total BTX in allsamples was 13.9 µg/m3and the total range was from 2.08 µg/m3to 30.7 µg/m3 with the median of 9.8 µg/m3. Themaximum concentration of total BTX was found to be 16.8 µg/m3 in winter season, followed by 10.6 µg/m3 in summerand 9.6 µg/m3 in monsoon season. Toluene contributed maximum (68%) followed by benzene (37%) and xylene (3%)and residential site (19%). The concentration of BTX decreased in the order toluene > benzene > xylene. The hazardquotient of benzene, toluene and xylene were 42E-01, 4.8-03 and 1.9E-02 respectively. Integrated lifetime cancer risk forbenzene was 7.6E-06.