Source analysis of heavy metals adsorbed on aerosols as a function of their size distribution

Abstract

In central Switzerland five types of emission sources are mainly responsible for the air pollution by heavy metals traffic, industrial plants with heavy oil firings, resuspension of soil particles, house firings, refuse incineration plants. The specific aerosol emissions of the first four above mentioned source types were analyzed in representative samples using Berner impactors. For As, Cd, Cu, Mn, Na, Pb and V the size distributions were determined and average over all samples belonging to one source type. The average distributions show significant differences between the four source types.