Inventory, emission factors, and total yearly emissions ofcreosote, PAH, and phenols from the Swiss railway networkwere determined based on the analysis of cross sectionsof selected railroad ties which were in use for up to 46years. Approximately 9 million wooden railroad tiesare installed in Switzerland, each bein
g treated withrou
ghly 15 k
g of creosote. Durin
g the service time of atypical railroad tie of 20-30 years, about 5 k
g of creosoteare emitted, correspondin
g to an emission factor of 208 m
g/(m
2 × day). PAH emissions occur as emissions of the volatile2- and 3-rin
g PAH (such as naphthalene, acenaphthylene,acenaphthene, anthracene, fluorene, phenanthrene;boilin
g point up to 340
ges/entities/de
g.
gif">C). PAH emissions for an avera
gerailroad tie were found to be about 0.5 k
g (sum of 16 EPA-PAH), correspondin
g to an emission factor of 20.3 m
g/(m
2 ×day). Emissions of phenolic compounds were determinedto be in the ran
ge of 10
g for each tie, correspondin
g to anemission factor of 0.58 m
g/(m
2 × day). Accordin
g to ourstudy, about 1710 t of creosote components are bein
g emittedby the ties of the Swiss railway network, every year.Based on the values reported above, yearly emissions of2- and 3-rin
g EPA-PAH add up to 139 t. Cumulated emissionsof phenolic compounds are in the order of 4 t per year.