Flux of fine and coarse particulates and metallic pollutants at a commercial site

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe concentrations of TSP, PM2.5, PM2.5–10, and metallic elements that are attached to PM particles (Al, Cr, Mn, and Pb) in ambient air were obtained using a PS-1 sampler and a MOUDI sampler from December 2015 to May 2016 at a commercial sampling site in central Taiwan. The mean concentration of coarse particulates and of metallic elements (Al, Cr, Mn, and Pb) attached to them were 28.42 µg/m3 and 472.05, 57.84, 33.66, and 161.08 ng/m3, respectively. The mean concentrations of fine particulates and metallic elements (Al, Cr, Mn, and Pb) that were attached to them were 69.73 µg/m3 and 399.06, 71.27, 39.25, and 220.70 ng/m3, respectively. Finally, the mean concentrations of TSP particulates and metallic elements (Al, Cr, Mn, and Pb) that were attached to them were 91.12 µg/m3 and 548.76, 16.07, 33.30, and 40.58 ng/m3, respectively. The results from this study show that the calculated coarse particulate fluxes for particulates and metallic elements (Al, Cr, Mn, and Pb) attached to them exceeded the calculated fine particulate fluxes. The mean calculated coarse particulate (PM2.5–10)/calculated fine particulate (PM2.5) flux ratio was approximately 6.76, and the corresponding ratios for the metallic elements Al, Cr, Mn, and Pb attached to the particulates were 4.94, 2.83, 2.96, and 2.17, respectively.