Indoor environment factor · measured in ng/m³
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
Part of: Semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOC)
Also: PAH, PAHs, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, benzo[a]pyrene
A family of compounds made of fused benzene rings, formed whenever organic material burns incompletely. Indoors they arrive with smoke from cooking, heating and tobacco, split between the gas phase and the particles according to how many rings they have.
What it is
Every flame that burns organic material makes these compounds, so their presence indoors maps exactly onto combustion: solid fuel cooking and heating, tobacco smoke, candles and incense, frying at high temperature, and traffic exhaust entering from outside.
The family divides by weight and that division decides how it is measured. The lighter members, naphthalene among them, stay largely in the gas phase and are collected on sorbent; the heavier ones, benzo[a]pyrene included, travel attached to fine particles and are collected on a filter. A study that sampled only one phase reports only part of the mixture, which is why the sampling method belongs with the number.
Toxicologically the family is the reason combustion smoke is treated as a carcinogen rather than merely an irritant, and results are often reported as a toxic equivalent referred to benzo[a]pyrene rather than as a simple sum.
What the studies report
| Linked to | Effect | Population | Study design | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coal | other 175.7 | — · home | measurement study of indoor PM2.5 and particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in 10 non-smoker households in the Khan-Uul district of Ulaanbaatar in winter 2018, where most households burn coal | F-0204 Sainnokhoi Characteristics of particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydroc… (2022) | machine |
| Coal | other 46.2 | — · home | measurement study of indoor PM2.5 and particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in 10 non-smoker households in the Khan-Uul district of Ulaanbaatar in winter 2018, where most households burn coal | F-0205 Sainnokhoi Characteristics of particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydroc… (2022) | machine |
| Wildfire smoke | share-above 58 | — · home | study of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons indoors and outdoors during and outside wildfire episodes, with silicone passive samplers at several locations and the air quality index recorded | F-1488 Wildfire Impact on Indoor and Outdoor PAH Air Quality (2022) | machine |
Each row is one Finding — a sentence as printed in one study, recorded with its page in the Coridum Knowledge Base. Follow the Finding number for the exact wording and the citation. Checked says who verified the row: machine means every automatic check passed and the surrounding text was read; person means someone read the sentence in the document. Rows are re-checked by a person over time. The studies are curated in the Coridum Knowledge Base; the reading of them together is a Claim, shown separately.
Identifiers
- MeSH
- D011084
Cite this page
Coridum Research. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Coridum Knowledge G-0164, 16 September 2026. https://coridum.com/k/G-0164/