Abstract
Illegal open burning, which is criticized as a leading source of air pollutants among agricultural activities, currently requires constant effort and attention from countries around the world. A speciation analysis method is required to examine the harmful effects of particulate matter generated by incineration on the human body. In this study, to simulate open-air incineration, infrastructure for incineration tests complying with US EPA method 5G was built, and a large-area analysis was conducted on the particulate matter through automated SEM-EDS. For test specimens, waste mulching LDPE collected by Korea Environment Corporation Dangjin Office was used. To raise the identifiability of analyzed particles, the specimen was sampled on a plate made of Ag, which has a high atomic number, three times. Metal particulate matter showed a high reaction to C and C-O. The ratio of metal particulate matters that reacted to C and C-O was in the order of Cu (94.1%) > Fe (83.3%) > Al (79.7%). In this study, it was verified that waste mulching adsorbs metal chemicals originating from the soil due to its properties and deterioration, and that when it is incinerated, it emits particulate matter containing transition metals and other metals that contribute to excessive ROS production and reduction.
Highlights
Illegal open-air incineration, which is criticized as a leading source of air pollutants among agricultural activities, requires continuous efforts
This study classified the chemical compounds depending on Dp, based on the major metals of the metal compounds detected in particulate pollutants emitted from incineration of waste mulching LDPE (Table 2)
It is verified that the metal absorption rate was increased due to the deterioration caused by mulching LDPE, the metal Atmosphere 2022, 13, x FOR PEER RcEhVeIEmWicals originating from the soil were adsorbed, and significant metal chemi1c3alosf w18ere identified in the particulate matter discharged from incineration
Summary
Illegal open-air incineration, which is criticized as a leading source of air pollutants among agricultural activities, requires continuous efforts. Open-air incineration is a representative cause that has a major impact on the generation of fine dust in rural areas. The automated SEM-EDS enables automated morphological measurement and EDS data collection of unit particles through back-scattered electron imaging (BSEI) linked with EDS analysis [14], and provides fast screening even for samples composed of complex phase compositions [15]. It provides a limited morphological dataset in the quantitative chemical species analysis of conventional X-ray diffraction (XRD) or X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), thereby facilitating the morphological analysis of target particles linked to the chemical dataset. We intended to present an analysis method that can simultaneously provide morphological and chemical datasets to analyze the environmental impact of open-air incineration after investigating the detection of major metal compounds derived from this
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
