Chemical Compositions and Source Apportionment of Road Dust in Yuncheng

Abstract

Samples of particulate sources in Yuncheng including road dust, salt lake dust, coal dust, soil dust, construction,cement dust and vehicle exhaust dust were collected. Elements, ions and carbon species in particulate sources samples were analyzed. Enrichment factors and potential ecological risk assessment were used to analyze the characteristics of road dust, and chemical mass balance model was applied to identify the source of road dust. The results showed that, compared with other cities, the proportions of Na(12.1970%) and SO42-(8.5971%) were relatively high while that of Si(9.1123%) was low in road dust in Yuncheng, and enrichment factors showed that the sources of Pb, Cu, Cr, V, As, Ni, Na and Zn in road dust were obviously influenced by human activities; the potential ecological risk of heavy metals in road dust was high, which was affected by anthropogenic sources such as industrial production, the combustion of fossil fuels and vehicle exhaust; the profiles of coal dust, vehicle exhaust dust, construction and cement dust were similar to those of other cities, the Na and SO42- concentrations in soil dust were relatively high, and the proportions of Na and SO42- in salt lake dust were 30.3% and 22.7% respectively; salt lake dust was the largest contributor (53%) to road dust, followed by the soil dust (21%), vehicle exhaust dust (8%), construction and cement dust (7%), and coal dust (5%).