The Analysis of Water-Soluble Ions and Inorganic Elements in Atmospheric Particulates, Chancheng, Foshan, China

Abstract

This paper investigated the concentrations of the water-soluble ions (e.g. SO42-, NO3- )and the inorganic elements in the atmospheric particulate, Chancheng, Foshan, China. The samples were collected on the roof of Liangtang Urban Air Automatic Monitoring Station, Chancheng, Foshan, in September and December, 2009. The NO3-/SO42- ratios of the PM10 in September and December are 0.20 and 0.62 respectively, but these of the PM2.5 in September and December are 0.14 and 0.36, respectively. It is clearly that the air pollution in Chancheng, Foshan is mainly from stationary source. The concentrations of the PM2.5 and PM10 in September are great lower than these in December. The concentrations of SO42- in atmospheric particulate, Chancheng, Foshan were nearly same for September and December, but the concentration of NO3- in September is considerable lower than that of December. It probably related to the weather conditions in September e.g. high temperature, high humidity and strong solar radiation, those are conducive to the photochemical reaction of SO2 to form SO42-, also conducive to the volatilization of the NO3-. The percentages of Ca, Al, Fe, K in the inorganic elements of atmospheric particulate ranged from 10 wt% to 20 wt%, so these elements were the major components of the atmospheric particulate. The results showed that the enrichment factors of Cu, Pb, Zn in atmospheric particulates, Chancheng, Foshan were >50, indicating highly enrichment and pollution level V.