Atmospheric concentrations of saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons around aCreek oil refinery

Petroleum refineries are large industrial installations that are responsibl e for the emission of several pollutants into the atmosphere. Hydrocarbons are among the most important air pollutants that are emitted by petroleum r efineries, since they are involved in almost every refinery process. The am bient air concentrations of many saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons were m easured in several sites around an oil refinery, near the city of Corinth i n Greece, during 1997. At the same time several meteorological parameters w ere also recorded. The seasonal, diurnal and spatial variations of the ambi ent air concentrations of these hydrocarbons were investigated and analyzed . An estimation of the contribution of the refinery to the measured atmosph eric levels of hydrocarbons was also performed. The ambient air mixing rati os of the saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons in a large area outside the r efinery were generally low, in ppbv range, much lower than the ambient air quality standards or the ambient air concentrations in the two largest urba n centers in Greece, Athens and Thessaloniki. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd . All rights reserved.