Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) leachates from post-consumption waterpipe tobacco waste (PWTW) into aquatic...

Post-consumption waterpipe tobacco waste (PWTW) is an unrecognized type of hazardous waste that is produced and released in large quantities into the aquatic environment. It may contain high amounts of various pollutants including PAH, and to date, there has been no research on the potential for contamination by PAH from PWTW leaching into aquatic environments. In this study, the concentrations of PAH via PWTW of fruit-flavored and traditional tobacco leachate into three water types, including distilled water (DW), tap water (TW) and sea water (SW) at different contact times were evaluated. There were significantly higher concentration levels of ƩPAH in waters with leachates from fruit-flavored PWTW than traditional tobacco (P-value<0.05). The concentration levels of ƩPAH in DW, TW and SW at a total contact time of two months ranged from 0.13 to 3.51, 0.12 to 3.63 and 0.11-3.64 μg/L, respectively. Lower molecular weight PAH such as naphthalene (Naph), acenaphthylene (Acen) and fluorine (Flu) were detected in leachates immediately after a short contact time of 15 min. Higher molecular weight PAH including benzo [a]anthracene (BaA), benzo [b]fluoranthene (BbF), benzo [k]fluoranthene (BkF), chrysene (Chr), and benzo [a]pyrene (BaP) were detected after one month contact time, while indeno [1,2,3-cd] pyrene (Indp), benzo [ghi]perylene (BghiP) and dibenz [a,h]anthracene (DahA) were only observed at the contact time measurement of two months. By adding sodium azide as an antimicrobial agent and chemical preservative to SW samples, higher concentrations of PAH including IP, DahA and BghiP were observed. The concentration levels of PAH in water samples after two months contact time were higher than water quality standards provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other international organizations.