Abstract
The composition of road dust is influenced by emissions from local industry as well as by traffic emissions. Thus, the composition of urban road dust can be used as an indicator for environmental pollution. Pollutants contained in road dust also are transferred into the atmosphere by resuspension and into the aquatic system by wash-off. In this transfer, the particle size of the road dust particles is of extreme importance. Therefore, information about the composition of road dust in dependence of the particle size is crucial. In this study, road dust samples were separated by air classification into size fractions down to 2 µm. The chemical analysis of the size fractions also revealed a significant size dependence of the metal concentrations in the finest size fractions. The least polluted size fraction was generally the fraction 200–500 µm, whereas the highest concentrations were measured in the finest size fraction < 2 µm. These results are important for the assessment of the mass fraction of the various pollutants in the mobile size fractions in re-entrainment as well as in run-off during rainfall.
Highlights
In recent years, numerous studies were carried out in many countries to determine the concentrations of metals in road dust (Adamiec et al 2016; Ewen et al 2009; Shi et al 2008; Apeagyei et al 2011; Duong and Lee 2011; Bourliva et al 2017)
The composition of urban road dust can be used as an indicator for environmental pollution
Because of the environmental relevance, the size dependence of the metal concentrations in road dust has been investigated in several studies
Summary
Numerous studies were carried out in many countries to determine the concentrations of metals in road dust (Adamiec et al 2016; Ewen et al 2009; Shi et al 2008; Apeagyei et al 2011; Duong and Lee 2011; Bourliva et al 2017). The composition of the fine size fractions of road dust is of increased relevance for the pollution of the run-off. Because of the environmental relevance, the size dependence of the metal concentrations in road dust has been investigated in several studies. For this purpose, the collected samples were usually separated into various size fractions by dry sieving. The upper size limit for the road dust investigated in these studies varied between 100 μm and 2 mm. Air classification was used for size fractionation of road dust (Lanzerstorfer 2018), producing a finest size fraction with a mass median diameter of approximately 2 μm. In this study the upper size limit of the investigated road dust was 200 μm
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