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. 2024 Aug 5:474:134666.
doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.134666. Epub 2024 May 21.

What is the spatiotemporal pattern of benzene concentration spread over susceptible area surrounding the Hartman Park community, Houston, Texas?

Aji Kusumaning Asri  1 , Galen D Newman  2 , Zhihan Tao  2 , Rui Zhu  2 , Hsiu-Ling Chen  3 , Shih-Chun Candice Lung  4 , Chih-Da Wu  5
Affiliations

What is the spatiotemporal pattern of benzene concentration spread over susceptible area surrounding the Hartman Park community, Houston, Texas?

Aji Kusumaning Asri et al. J Hazard Mater. .

Abstract

The Hartman Park community in Houston, Texas-USA, is in a highly polluted area which poses significant risks to its predominantly Hispanic and lower-income residents. Surrounded by dense clustering of industrial facilities compounds health and safety hazards, exacerbating environmental and social inequalities. Such conditions emphasize the urgent need for environmental measures that focus on investigating ambient air quality. This study estimated benzene, one of the most reported pollutants in Hartman Park, using machine learning-based approaches. Benzene data was collected in residential areas in the neighborhood and analyzed using a combination of five machine-learning algorithms (i.e., XGBR, GBR, LGBMR, CBR, RFR) through a newly developed ensemble learning model. Evaluations on model robustness, overfitting tests, 10-fold cross-validation, internal and stratified validation were performed. We found that the ensemble model depicted about 98.7% spatial variability of benzene (Adj. R2 =0.987). Through rigorous validations, stability of model performance was confirmed. Several predictors that contribute to benzene were identified, including temperature, developed intensity areas, leaking petroleum storage tank, and traffic-related factors. Analyzing spatial patterns, we found high benzene spread over areas near industrial zones as well as in residential areas. Overall, our study area was exposed to high benzene levels and requires extra attention from relevant authorities.

Keywords: Benzene concentration; Ensemble learning model; Hazardous pollution zone; Machine-learning algorithms; Vulnerable community.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the study design; data collection, analyses, interpretation; writing of the manuscript; nor in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
The site of benzene measurement in the Hartman Park and Manchester community area in Houston, Texas, United States. The yellow line indicates the route of on-board measurement for benzene couple with meteorological data collection.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
The Framework of benzene estimation in the Hartman Park Community area, Houston by using machine learning-based approach.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Temporal trends of average benzene concentrations were derived from direct measurements in the Hartman Park community area. The numbers were aggregated every minute over five-day-period.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
(a) Validation tests in each measurement day (day 1 to day 5). Illustrated the values of R2 and MAE for all developed algorithms, i.e., XGBR, GBR, LGBMR, CBR, RFR, and ensemble learning.Fig. 4 (b) Validation tests by the distance of emission sources. Illustrated the values of R2 and MAE for all developed algorithms, i.e., XGBR, GBR, LGBMR, CBR, RFR, and ensemble learning.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.
Spatiotemporal distribution of benzene concentrations (0 to 1 + ppb) in the Hartman Park community area. Generated using estimated values from an ensemble learning model, it incorporated data from all measurement times (a) and daily measurements (b-f).
Fig. 6.
Fig. 6.
Spatial pattern of benzene concentrations (1 to 2 + ppb) in the Hartman Park community area. Generated using estimated values from an ensemble learning model and it incorporated data from all measurement times.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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