RESEARCH ARTICLE POPs in a major conurbation in Turkey: ambient air concentrations, seasonal variation, inhalation and dermal exposure, and associated carcinogenic risks Tugba Ugranli 1,2 & Elif Gungormus 1,2 & Pınar Kavcar 2 & Eylem Demircioglu 3 & Mustafa Odabasi 3 & Sait C. Sofuoglu 1,2 & Gerhard Lammel 4,5 & Aysun Sofuoglu 2 Received: 1 May 2016 /Accepted: 29 July 2016 /Published online: 23 August 2016 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016 Abstract Semi-volatile organic compounds were monitored over a whole year, by collection of gas and particle phases every sixth day at a suburban site in Izmir, Turkey. Annual mean concentrations of 32 polychlorinated biphenyls ( ∑ 32 PCBs) and 14 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (∑ 14 PAHs) were 348 pg/m 3 and 36 ng/m 3 , respectively, while it was 273 pg/m 3 for endosulfan, the dominant compound among 23 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs). Monte Carlo simulation was applied to the USEPA exposure-risk models for the estimation of the population exposure and carcinogenic risk probability distributions for heating and non-heating pe- riods. The estimated population risks associated with dermal contact and inhalation routes to ∑ 32 PCBs, ∑ 14 PAHs, and some of the targeted OCPs (α-hexachlorocyclohexane (α- HCH), β-hexachlorocyclohexane (β-HCH), heptachlor, hep- tachlor epoxide, α-chlordane (α-CHL), γ-chlordane (γ-CHL), and p,p′-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (p,p′-DDT)) were in the ranges of 1.86 × 10 -16 –7.29 × 10 -9 and 1.38 × 10 -10 – 4.07 × 10 -6 , respectively. The inhalation 95th percentile risks for ∑ 32 PCBs, ∑ 14 PAHs, and OCPs were about 6, 3, and 4–7 orders of magnitude higher than those of dermal route, respec- tively. The 95th percentile inhalation risk for ∑ 32 PCBs and OCPs in the non-heating period were 1.8- and 1.2–4.6 folds higher than in the heating period, respectively. In contrast, the 95th percentile risk levels for ∑ 14 PAHs in the heating period were 4.3 times greater than that of non-heating period for inhalation, respectively. While risk levels associated with ex- posure to PCBs and OCPs did not exceed the acceptable level of 1 × 10 -6 , it was exceeded for 47 % of the population asso- ciated with inhalation of PAHs with a maximum value of about 4 × 10 -6 . Keywords Persistent organic pollutants . PCBs . PAHs . OCPs . Exposure . Carcinogenic risk Introduction Semi-volatile organic compounds are considered as one of the significant groups of pollutants because of their wide presence in the environment. Especially the persistent ones, called as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), are of concern because of their characteristics, i.e., being bioaccumulative, capability of long-range atmospheric transport (LRAT) (Halse et al. 2011; Hogarth et al. 2012), low aqueous solubilities, and moderate vapor pressures (Castro-Jiménez et al. 2008; Wick et al. 2011). Although use of these chemicals was restricted/banned in the countries who signed the Stockholm Convention, they can still be detected in the environment because of their persis- tence, long-range transport, current use, and unintentional emissions (Pozo et al. 2006; MoEF 2010). Responsible editor: Constantini Samara Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11356-016-7350-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Aysun Sofuoglu aysunsofuoglu@iyte.edu.tr 1 Department of Environmental Engineering, İzmir Institute of Technology, Gülbahçe, 35430 Urla, İzmir, Turkey 2 Department of Chemical Engineering, İzmir Institute of Technology, Gülbahçe, 35430 Urla, İzmir, Turkey 3 Department of Environmental Engineering, Dokuz Eylul University, Tinaztepe Campus 35160, Buca, Izmir, Turkey 4 Multiphase Chemistry Department, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, 55128 Mainz, Germany 5 Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment, Masaryk University, 62500 Brno, Czech Republic Environ Sci Pollut Res (2016) 23:22500–22512 DOI 10.1007/s11356-016-7350-5