Magister Scientiae - MSc (Chemistry) / Pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are known for their toxic effects
which may lead to the cause of degenerative diseases in both humans and animals. PAHs are
widespread in the environment, and may be found in water, food, automotive industry and
petrochemical industries to name but a few sources. Literature reports have highlighted industrial
workplace exposure to PAHs as a leading cause for development of cancer in workers.
Particularly, workers in the petrochemical industry are adversely affected and the incidence of
skin and lung cancer in this population group is high.
The United States of America in its guidelines developed by environmental protection agency
(EPA) has identified 18 PAHs as priority pollutants. Among these are anthracene,
benzo[a]pyrene and pyrene which have been selected as the focal point of this study due to their
significance in the petrochemical industry.
Due to the carcinogenic and mutagenic properties reported in literature for certain PAHs, there
have been monitoring procedures taken in most countries around the world. The commonly used
analytical methods for the detection of PAHs from industrial samples are high performance
liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled to fluorescence detection, membrane filtration,
ozonation and reverse osmosis. Analysis of PAHs from the petrochemical industry is typically
performed by HPLC method as well as sono-degredation in the presence of oxygen and
hydrogen peroxide.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uwc/oai:etd.uwc.ac.za:11394/6363 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Ngwanya, Olwethu |
| Contributors | Baker, Priscilla |
| Publisher | University of the Western Cape |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | University of the Western Cape |
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