Abstract
Particulate matter (PM) plays a vital role in altering air quality, human health, and climate change. There are sparse data relevant to PM characteristics in urban environments of the Middle East, including Peshawar city in Pakistan. This work reports on the morphology and composition of PM in two size fractions (PM2.5 and PM10) during November 2016 in Peshawar. The 24 hous mass concentration of PM2.5 varied from 72 μg m-3 to 500 μg m-3 with an average value of 286 μg m-3. The 24 hours PM10 concentration varied from 300 μg m-3 to 1440 μg m-3 with an average of 638 μg m-3. The morphology, size, and elemental composition of PM were measured using Fourier Transform Infra Red (FT-IR) Spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) with Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) Spectroscopy. The size of the analyzed particles by EDX ranged from 916 nm to 22 μm. Particles were classified into the following groups based on their elemental composition and morphology: silica (12%), aluminosilicates (23%), calcium rich (3%), chloride (2%), Fe/Ti oxides (3%), carbonaceous (49%), sulfate (5%), biogenic (3%). The major identified sources of PM are vehicular emissions, biomass burning, soil and re-suspended road dust, biological emissions, and construction activities in and around the vicinity of the sampling site.
Highlights
The size, shape, and composition of ambient particulate matter (PM) affects their ability to interact with both solar radiation and water vapor, which in turn leads to varying effects on climate, cloud formation and precipitation, and public health
The objectives of the current work are to report on the morphology of PM, and frequency of different particle types based on their classification into categories according to their elemental composition and morphology
Both PM2.5 and PM10 were collected with the Low Volume Sampler (LVS) from 1 November to 30 November 2016
Summary
The size, shape, and composition of ambient particulate matter (PM) affects their ability to interact with both solar radiation and water vapor, which in turn leads to varying effects on climate, cloud formation and precipitation, and public health. Coarse particulate matter (PM10), fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and ultra-fine particulate matter with diameter less than 0.5 μm have different characteristics, sources, and potential health effects. Natural sources of PM tend to lead to larger particles, such as with windblown dust, sea salt, crustal material, volcanic emissions, and biological particles. Smaller particles tend to be produced by secondary processes, such as by gas-to-particle conversion, stemming from both anthropogenic and biogenic emissions of precursor gases. Inorganic salts, such as ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulfate, and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) are examples of secondarily produced PM. Black carbon (BC) in particular can damage the cells of the human body and possibily carcinogenic to humans (Baan, 2007)
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