Bioavailability of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their potential application in eco-risk assessment and source apportionment in urban river sediment
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14/03/2016
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Nature - Scientific Reports
Traditional risk assessment and source apportionment of sediments based on bulk polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can introduce biases due to unknown aging effects in various sediments. We used a mild solvent (hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin) to extract the bioavailable fraction of PAHs (a-PAHs) from sediment samples collected in Pearl River, southern China. We investigated the potential application of this technique for ecological risk assessments and source apportionment.