Regional measurements of PCDD/PCDF concentrations in Korean atmosphere and comparison with gas–particle partitioning models

The current investigation was aimed at determining the levels of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDDs/PCDFs) in the Korean atmosphere along with their estimation using gas–particle partitioning. Samples collected from six cites showed that large cities were polluted with a concentration of 0.593 pg TEQ/m3. Samples were also collected from residential (nine sites), commercial (five sites), and industrial (seven sites) districts in each city. Higher levels of PCDDs/PCDFs were observed in industrial area than other areas, since it includes many sources. Higher chlorinated 2,3,7,8-substituted congeners were predominantly found in the particulate phase. HpCDD/Fs and OCDD/Fs shared 97–99% of the particulate phase, whereas TCDD/Fs, which dominated the gaseous phase, shared 34.8% and 42.8% in 2,3,7,8-substituted congeners. The regression dataset was transformed due to the relationship between logKP and logPLo. A wide variation was observed in the slopes for the residential areas when compared with the slopes for the commercial and industrial areas. The Junge–Pankow model and Koa adsorption model were both found to be helpful in describing the gas–particle partitioning in the current study.