Analysis of polycyclic-aromatic hydrocarbons in blood serum samples obtained from oil refinery workers. Determination of occupational exposure Çipa, Morsina Gómez Regalado, María del Carmen Navalón, Alberto Marku, Elda Zafra-Gomez, Alberto Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry PAHs Cloud-point extraction The present work has been supported with joint funding from the Spanish Government (FEDER-ISCIII PI20/01278) and the FEDER/Regional Government of Andalusia - Ministry of Economy and Knowledge projects Nr. B.RNM.362.UGR20 and PE-0250-2019, within the Framework of the Program Operating FEDER Andalusia (2014–2020). The authors wish to thank the Erasmus plus program for the fellowship granted to Morsina Çipa for staying in Granada for six months (ref: ESO). The present study was undertaken to evaluate the occupational exposure to PAHs of long-term workers in a specific petroleum refinery in Albania. The main route of exposure to these pollutants is via inhalation within a highly contaminated work environment. Serum samples from workers were collected and analyzed. A cloud-point extraction method was applied to isolate and concentrate PAHs from samples using Triton X-100 as the extraction agent. The phase separation of micellar serum solutions was induced with the addition of sodium chloride. The analyses were performed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry using a capillary column HP-5MS. The PAHs analyzed were acenaphthene, acenaphthylene, anthracene, benzo[α]anthracene, benzo[α]pyrene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, benzo[g,h,i]perylen, chrysene, dibenzo[α,h]anthracene, fluorene, indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene, naphthalene, phenanthrene and pyrene. Mean concentration of analytes ranged from 4 ng mL-1 for fluorene and anthracene to 110 ng mL-1 for dibenzo[α,h]anthracene. The compositional profile of the PAHs was primarily 4-6 rings PAHs. Diagnostic isomeric ratios of benzo[α]anthracene/(benzo[α]anthracene + chrysene) and phenanthrene/anthracene suggest that the PAHs in the serum were primarily pyrogenic PAHs. The bioaccumulation trend of the PAHs in the workers proved conditional to their physical location within the workplace. 2026-02-10T12:10:30Z 2026-02-10T12:10:30Z 2022-11 journal article Published version: Çipa, M.; Gómez Regalado, M.C.; Navalón, A.; Marku, E. y Zafra-Gomez, A. (2022). Analysis of polycyclic-aromatic hydrocarbons in blood serum samples obtained from oil refinery workers. Determination of occupational exposure. Atmospheric Pollution Research, Volume 13, 2022, 101589. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apr.2022.101589 1309-1042 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/110824 10.1016/j.apr.2022.101589 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ open access Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional Elsevier