Journal of Environmental Protection, 2016, 7, 1561-1570 http://www.scirp.org/journal/jep ISSN Online: 2152-2219 ISSN Print: 2152-2197 DOI: 10.4236/jep.2016.711129 October 27, 2016 Assessment of Organic Compounds as Vehicular Emission Tracers in the Aburrá Valley Region of Colombia Enrique Posada 1 , Miryam Gómez 2 , Viviana Monsalve 1 1 INDISA, Group of Process, Energy and Environmental Studies, Medellín, Colombia 2 Politécnico Colombiano Jaime Isaza Cadavid, Group GHYGAM, Medellín, Colombia Abstract The Aburrá Valley region in Colombia, with Medellín as its main city, is an urban centre with about three million people. An investigation was carried out to deter- mine a set of baseline concentrations for VOC compounds associated with diesel fuel and gasoline, as vehicular emission tracers in the region. The VOC measurement campaigns, based on TENAX tube sampling and analysis according to TO-17 EPA method, were done in areas of low and high vehicular flow as well as on-board mea- surements covering major Medellín road networks during 24 hours. The results showed that there was a relation between VOCs concentrations and vehicular activi- ty. The diesel fuel sulfur content was also found as an important factor on VOC hy- drocarbon formation. Keywords VOCs, Vehicular Pollution Tracers, Vehicular Emissions, Urban Pollution, Rural Pollution 1. Introduction VOCs tend to be polluting considering both their inhalation and contact effects and as a source of secondary pollutants. For the present study, they were classified into two (2) groups: poly-nuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and aliphatic hydrocarbons (AH). Table 1 shows the list of VOCs studied and some basic characteristics. The studied VOCs behave differently, following the two main types (alkanes [AH], and PAH) and this has to do with their molecular weight, as shown in the behavior of their vapor pressure and boiling point, properties that have to do with their presence in the atmosphere (Figure 1 and Figure 2). How to cite this paper: Posada, E., Gómez, M. and Monsalve, V. (2016) As- sessment of Organic Compounds as Vehi- cular Emission Tracers in the Aburrá Val- ley Region of Colombia. Journal of Envi- ronmental Protection, 7, 1561-1570. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jep.2016.711129 Received: August 16, 2016 Accepted: October 24, 2016 Published: October 27, 2016 Copyright © 2016 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access