Volatile Organic Compounds in Ambient Air: Potential Sources, Distribution and Impact

The present review study focuses on Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) monitoring, source identification and their negative impact on the environment and human health. In most studies, it was found that the concentration of VOCs is increasing at an alarming rate in urban areas compared to rural areas due to extensive use of vehicles, industries, biomass burning, gas leakage etc and an increase in population in rural areas due to burning of biomass for cooking. An increase in VOCs emission affects human health and climate change. Natural sources such as biogenic sources constitute higher VOCs emission worldwide. Most of the studies have reported that the VOCs concentration was found to be higher in the winter season in indoor environments as compared to outdoor environments. Most people spend their maximum time in indoor climatic conditions, and they have possible cancer risk and other health effects. Therefore, it is required to set emission standard limits and some remedial measures for the indoor environment.