Simulation of multimedia fate of phenanthrene in the Yangtze estuary

A Level III fugacity model is used to simulate the concentration distribution of phenanthrene in air, water, sediment and plants in the Yangtze estuary. Based on simulation results, transfer fluxes among-phase are calculated, and also, the key model parameters are determined by means of sensitivity analysis. The results indicated that the advection of air is the main source of phenanthrene in this area, while the main disappeared way from the study region is the advection of air and water. The degradation of phenanthrene in air is the most and the degradation in sediment is the least. The air is the major store of phenanthrene, where phenanthrene was found accounts for 86.36% of the total amount, however, the phenanthrene concentrations is only 0.5×10^-7 mol·m^-3. The phenanthrene concentrations are higher in sediment and plants which are 1.5×10^-6 mol·m^-3 and 4.4×10^-6 mol·m^-3, respectively. The distribute coefficient and the sedimentation rate of the phenanthrene control the distribution of the phenanthrene in each medium.