Elemental composition and sources of particulate matter in the ambient air of a Metropolitan City

Abstract. We have numerically evaluated how effective selected potential measures would be for reducing the impact of road dust on ambient air particulate matter (PM10). The selected measures included a reduction of the use of studded tyres on light-duty vehicles and a reduction of the use of salt or sand for traction control. We have evaluated these measures for a street canyon located in central Helsinki for four years (2007–2009 and 2014). Air quality measurements were conducted in the street canyon for two years, 2009 and 2014. Two road dust emission models, NORTRIP (NOn-exhaust Road TRaffic Induced Particle emissions) and FORE (Forecasting Of Road dust Emissions), were applied in combination with the Operational Street Pollution Model (OSPM), a street canyon dispersion model, to compute the street increments of PM10 (i.e. the fraction of PM10 concentration originating from traffic emissions at the street level) within the street canyon. The predicted concentrations were compared with the air quality measurements. Both road dust emission models reproduced the seasonal variability of the PM10 concentrations fairly well but under-predicted the annual mean values. It was found that the largest reductions of concentrations could potentially be achieved by reducing the fraction of vehicles that use studded tyres. For instance, a 30 % decrease in the number of vehicles using studded tyres would result in an average decrease in the non-exhaust street increment of PM10 from 10 % to 22 %, depending on the model used and the year considered. Modelled contributions of traction sand and salt to the annual mean non-exhaust street increment of PM10 ranged from 4 % to 20 % for the traction sand and from 0.1 % to 4 % for the traction salt. The results presented here can be used to support the development of optimal strategies for reducing high springtime particulate matter concentrations originating from road dust.

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Geochemical and Mineralogical Characteristics of Airborne Particulate Matter in Relation to Human Health Risk

Minerals ◽

10.3390/min10100866 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (10) ◽

pp. 866 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Marzena Rachwał ◽

Małgorzata Wawer ◽

Mariola Jabłońska ◽

Wioletta Rogula-Kozłowska ◽

Patrycja Rogula-Kopiec

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Susceptibility ◽

Particulate Matter ◽

Human Health ◽

Magnetic Particles ◽

Rank Order ◽

Human Health Risk ◽

Airborne Particulate Matter ◽

Ambient Air ◽

Average Concentration ◽

Health Indices

The main objective of this research was the determination of the geochemical and mineralogical properties of particulate matter: TSP (total suspended particles) and, especially PM1 (particles with aerodynamic diameter not greater than 1 µm) suspended in the air of a selected urban area in southern Poland. Identification of the emission sources of metals and metalloids bound in TSP and PM1 as well as the assessment of potential risk of urban ambient air to human health using hazard indices was an additional aim of this investigation. The daily TSP and PM1 quartz fiber filters collected during heating season were subjected to mass magnetic susceptibility (χ) measurements, SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) observations and geochemical analyses. Obtained results revealed that the concentration of TSP and PM1 well correlated with their mass-specific magnetic susceptibility. The good relationship between the PM concentration and χ suggests that magnetic susceptibility measurements can be a good proxy of low-level atmospheric dust pollution. The rank order of potentially toxic elements (PTE) based on average concentration was Ba > Zn > Al > Fe > Pb > Mn > Ti > Cu > Cr > Ni >As > Cd > V > Tl, both for TSP and PM1. PM1/TSP ratios for PTE concentrations and χ were around or slightly above unity, which indicated that PM1 was the main carrier of PTE (with the exception of cadmium, copper and lead) and technogenic magnetic particles. The non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks were confirmed by very high values of human health indices.

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Nuclear analytical techniques for identification of elemental composition of fine and coarse airborne particulate matter Collected in Bandung, Indonesia

IOP Conference Series Materials Science and Engineering ◽

10.1088/1757-899x/1011/1/012065 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 1011 ◽

pp. 012065

Author(s):

M Santoso ◽

D D Lestiani ◽

I Kusmartini ◽

D K Sari ◽

S Kurniawati ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Particulate Matter ◽

Elemental Composition ◽

Airborne Particulate Matter ◽

Analytical Techniques ◽

Airborne Particulate ◽

Nuclear Analytical Techniques ◽

Nuclear Analytical

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Effectiveness of SOx, NOx, and Primary Particulate Matter Control Strategies in the Improvement of Ambient PM Concentration in Taiwan

Atmosphere ◽

10.3390/atmos12040460 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 460

Author(s):

Jiun-Horng Tsai ◽

Ming-Ye Lee ◽

Hung-Lung Chiang

Keyword(s):

Particulate Matter ◽

Air Quality ◽

Model Simulation ◽

Control Strategies ◽

Ambient Air ◽

Clean Air Act ◽

Control Measures ◽

Control Plan ◽

Clean Air ◽

Pm2.5 Concentration

The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) measurement was employed for evaluating the effectiveness of fine particulate matter control strategies in Taiwan. There are three scenarios as follows: (I) the 2014 baseline year emission, (II) 2020 emissions reduced via the Clean Air Act (CAA), and (III) other emissions reduced stringently via the Clean Air Act. Based on the Taiwan Emission Data System (TEDs) 8.1, established in 2014, the emission of particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) was 73.5 thousand tons y−1, that of SOx was 121.3 thousand tons y−1, and that of NOx was 404.4 thousand tons y−1 in Taiwan. The CMAQ model simulation indicated that the PM2.5 concentration was 21.9 μg m−3. This could be underestimated by 24% in comparison with data from the ambient air quality monitoring stations of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (TEPA). The results of the simulation of the PM2.5 concentration showed high PM2.5 concentrations in central and southwestern Taiwan, especially in Taichung and Kaohsiung. Compared to scenario I, the average annual concentrations of PM2.5 for scenario II and scenario III showed reductions of 20.1% and 28.8%, respectively. From the results derived from the simulation, it can be seen that control of NOx emissions may improve daily airborne PM2.5 concentrations in Taiwan significantly and control of directly emitted PM2.5 emissions may improve airborne PM2.5 concentrations each month. Nevertheless, the results reveal that the preliminary control plan could not achievethe air quality standard. Therefore, the efficacy and effectiveness of the control measures must be considered to better reduce emissions in the future.

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