Application of Dry Deposition Models to Estimate Ambient Air Particulate and Particulate-Bound Mercury Hg(p) Dry Deposition

Abstract

Ambient air samples were collected between September 3, 2009 and March 5, 2010 to determine total suspended particulate matter (TSP) and coarse and fine particulate and particle-bound mercury Hg(p) at the suburban/coastal sampling station of Sha-Lu at Taiwan. Results reveal that average concentrations of ambient air particles PM2.5, PM2.5–10, dry deposition, and TSP were 20.5 ± 6.3 (μg/m3), 11.2 ± 4.44 (μg/m3), 162 ± 92.7 (μg/[m2 min]), and 78.7 ± 34.4 (μg/m3), respectively. Average concentrations of PM2.5, PM2.5–10, dry deposition, and TSP of bound mercury Hg(p) were 0.007 ± 0.005 (ng/m3), 0.011 ± 0.006 (ng/m3), 0.156 ± 0.082 (ng/[m2 min]), and 0.07 ± 0.04 (ng/m3), respectively. Average calculated/measured dry deposition flux ratios with coarse (3.8 μm) and fine (0.68 μm) particle size for ambient air particle and particle-bound mercury Hg(p) by using Zhang's combined with William's were 2.49 and 3.44, respectively. Finally, results of this study also indicate that using Zhang's combined with William's model with the coarse (3.8 μm) and fine (0.68 μm) particle size exhibits better prediction results in ambient air particle and particle-bound mercury Hg(p) when compared with results of Zhang's model with average particle size (20 and 23 μm) in TSP for prediction of dry deposition.