Ambient air pollution by mercury species at the urban station in Zabrze, Southern Poland

Abstract

The study presents the initial results of semi-continuous measurements of atmospheric mercury species (Hg0, Hg2+ and particle mercury Hgp bound with PM2.5) in Zabrze obtained between January and December 2011. Zabrze is a city (190,000 inhabitants) within Upper Silesia Agglomeration, the most urbanised and industrialised part of Poland. Ambient air was sampled from the roof of the two-storey building of Institute of Environmental Engineering of the Polish Academy of Sciences (residential area). The measurements were performed using a Tekran 2537B mercury analyzer together with a 1130 Speciation Unit and a 1135 Hgp Unit. Hg2+ is captured in the unit 1130 (KCl-coated denuder), while Hgp is trapped onto a regenerable filter inside the module 1135. Hg0 remaining in the air stream is then directed into the 2537B mercury analyzer and detected using cold vapour atomic fluorescence spectrometry. The concentration of Hg0 (5-minutes data) was from 1.5 to 67.5 ng m–3, with 3.3 ng m–3 as a mean value. Hg2+ concentration (1-hour data) varied from <1 to 763 pg m–3, at arithmetic mean of 25 pg m–3. The concentration of Hgp (1-hour data) ranged from <1 pg m–3 to 4.8 ng m–3, on average 52 pg m–3. While the concentration of Hg0 did not diverge generally from the levels observed in urban areas of Western Europe and Northern America, the concentrations of two remaining Hg forms were higher. Their concentrations were higher in winter than in summer unlike the concentration of Hg0.