Multiple land-use fugacity model to assess the transport and fate of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in urban and suburban areas

Soil types and land cover can significantly affect the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) environmental fate in soil compartments. Hence, estimation of the potential risk of PAHs should be carried out on a smaller scale. Herein, we proposed the multiple land-use fugacity (MLUF) model to investigate the transport and distribution of PAHs in the environment and to provide a more specific and detailed understanding of PAHs dispersion in a multiple soil compartments area. Both steady-state and dynamic MLUF model are implemented use a case study of Beijing. The results indicate that organic films have the greatest concentration of PAHs (6.19 × 103 mg/m3), while the soil and sediment phases retain the majority of PAHs (1.5 × 104 kg and 1.47 × 104 kg, respectively). The potential cancer risk associated with PAHs varies by land-use in the following order: urban green space > agricultural area > forest and semi-nature area. Additionally, the dynamic fluctuation in PAHs concentration was estimated during the COVID-19 pandemic which caused by quarantine indicates that PAH in urban green space soil compartments is more stable than other soil compartments. The present study gives a more scientific understanding of the contaminant transfer and distribution of typical volatile organic compounds in a study area with multiple soil types. [Display omitted] •MLUF model better reflects pollutants fate in a multiple land-use area.•The modeling results show accurate prediction of PAHs distribution.•The organic film has the greatest concentration of PAHs.•The risk of PAHs varies by land-use, and urban green space (UGS) shows the highest.•PAHs shown least variation in UGS soil compartment during the COVID-19 pandemic.