Characterization of PAC-contaminated soil with the focus on availability, leachability and biological activities

Sammanfattning: Current risk assessments of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs)-contaminated soil are often based on the 16 priority PAHs and do not consider availability of PACs in soil sufficiently. This may lead to uncertainties of the assessment, since important contaminants can be overlooked and only a small fraction of contaminants is available for the uptake for organisms. The overall aim of this thesis was to develop a refined and enhanced analytical approach based on both chemical and bioassay analysis coupled to passive sampling with polyoxymethylene (POM) and leaching tests that can provide a more comprehensive picture of chemical pollution at PAC-contaminated sites. To achieve this, bioassay-specific relative potency factors (REPs) of PACs were determined for the H4IIE-luc bioassay, detecting AhR-mediated activity, and for the VM7luc4E2 transactivation assay, detecting ER-mediated activity for the use in potency-balance analysis. Results of uptake-experiments of PACs in earthworms and POM suggested that POM is a suitable tool to study availability of AhR and ER agonists in soil. Availability and mobility of PACs in soil were investigated by the use of POM and leaching tests. The results of potency-balance analysis showed that in soil samples, in POM-fractions or in leachates, a large fraction of AhR- or ER-agonists remained unexplained, despite the use of a large number of REPs. In addition, coupling of chemical and biological analysis to passive sampling or leaching tests revealed that only a small fraction of the total mass of PACs in the soil is available or leachable in soil. The results suggests that the use of only the total concentration in soil while ignoring unknown toxicants will lead to great uncertainties in the risk assessment. Therefore, effect-based screening using bioassays, taking availability and mobility of compounds into account, as well as a widened chemical analysis should be included in modern hazard- and risk assessment of PAH contaminated soils.