Assessment of Chemical Composition and Health Implications Associated with PM10 Exposure: A Comparative Study of an Urban Road Intersection and a Wood-Burning Vicinity

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The chemical composition and potential health risks linked to human exposure to ambient PM10 particles were assessed at the Winneba highway intersection (WHI) and Apam, a wood-burning neighbourhood in Ghana’s Central Region. PM10 particulates were collected using a Gent sampler equipped with a Gast pump and a stacked filter unit. The sampling was done three times a week continuously from July 2022 to June 2023, for 24 h. A smoke stain reflectometer and an Ag-anode X-ray tube spectrometer were used to analyse the samples for black carbon and elemental contents, respectively. The health hazards associated with trace elements were evaluated using the US EPA health risk assessment model. The study’s findings indicated that the amounts of Cr (250.5 ng/m3) and Ni (358.1 ng/m3) detected at Apam surpassed the US EPA threshold limits, as did the values discovered at the WHI, which were 78.63 and 178.2 ng/m3, respectively. PCA indicated that PM10 particles were produced at WHI by soil dust, vehicle exhaust, brake and tyre wear, and two-stroke engines, whereas biomass burning, soil dust, and vehicle exhaust emissions contributed to PM10 at Apam. The non-carcinogenic risks of children’s exposure to trace metals in PM10 via the three exposure pathways were higher compared to adults. The overall cancer risk values for exposure to carcinogenic trace metals from ingestion and dermal contact were more than 10−4, suggesting high cancer risks: 9.49 × 10−4–5.20 × 10−3 for children and 9.03 × 10−4–5.26 × 10−3 for adults. Reducing PM10 and the health concerns it poses requires the use of clean fuel and the adoption of environmentally friendly transportation.