Impact of fuel switching to the level of air toxic and its potential health impact in Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract

The annual arithmetic mean concentrations of benzene and 1, 3-butadiene were gradually decreasing tendency from the year 2008 - 2011 at every monitoring stations in Bangkok. Dramatically decreasing of these air toxics, measured in the road curbside areas were found in the year 2012 when the Thai's government implemented the improvement of fuel quality from Euro 2 to Euro 4 standards. Calculated cancer risk of benzene and 1, 3-butadiene dramatically decreased at every monitoring stations. The results indicated that the population was estimated to receive an excess lifetime cancer risk greater than 1 × 10-5, which is proposed as the permissible maximum value for individual excess lifetime cancer risk by the Japan Environmental Agency (JEA). However, cancer risk from air toxic was found significantly decreased in the year 2012. These finding elucidated the effectiveness of changing of fuel quality to the reduction of airborne air toxic concentration in Bangkok environment. © (2014) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.