Atmospheric concentration, source identification, and health risk assessment of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in two countries: Peru and Turkey Mehmet Ferhat Sari & Daniel Alejandro Córdova Del Águila & Yücel Tasdemir & Fatma Esen Received: 13 May 2020 /Accepted: 10 September 2020 # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 Abstract It is known that some persistent organic pol- lutants (POPs) are used worldwide, and these pollutants are dangerous for human health. However, there are still countries where measurements of these pollutants have not been adequately measured. Although many studies have been published for determining the concentrations of POPs in Turkey, there are limited studies in Latin American countries like Peru. For this reason, it is essential both to conduct a study in Peru and to compare the study with another country. This study is aimed at determining the atmospheric POPs such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), organochlorine pesticide (OCP), and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentra- tions using passive air samplers in Yurimaguas (Peru) and Bursa (Turkey). Molecular diagnosis ratios and ring distribution methods were used to determine the sources of PAHs. According to these methods, coal and biomass combustions were among the primary sources of PAHs in Peru, while petrogenic and petroleum were the pri- mary sources of PAHs in Turkey. Then, α-HCH/γ- HCH and β-/(α+γ)-HCH ratios were used to determine the sources of OCPs. According to the α-HCH/γ-HCH ratios, the primary sources of OCPs in both countries were lindane. Similarly, according to β-/(α+γ)-HCH ratios, the HCHs have been historically used in Peru while they were recently utilized in Turkey. Finally, homologous group distributions were used to determine the sources of PCBs. Similar distributions of homolo- gous groups were observed in the sampling sites in both countries. Also, the homologous group distributions obtained have been determined that industrial activities could be effective in the sampling areas in both coun- tries. When the cancer risks that could occur via inhala- tion were evaluated, no significant cancer risk has been determined in both countries. Keywords Peru . PCBs . PAHs . OCPs . Passive air sampler Introduction Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are characterized due to their persistence, bioaccumulative, long-range transport, and toxicity. Some polycyclic aromatic hy- drocarbons (PAHs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are among the well-known POPs (Qu et al. 2019; Yin et al. 2017). PAHs formed by the combination of two or more ben- zene rings and consisted of hundreds of different com- pounds are usually formed during incomplete combus- tion of organic substances such as wood, coal, gas, and tobacco. Among the PAH compounds, only 16 PAHs are listed as priority pollutants by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (Andersson and Achten Environ Monit Assess (2020) 192:655 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-08604-8 Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-08604-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. M. F. Sari : D. A. Córdova Del Águila : Y. Tasdemir : F. Esen (*) Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Bursa Uludag University, 16059, Nilufer, Bursa, Turkey e-mail: payan@uludag.edu.tr