The objectives of this study were: to investigate and compare the mass concentration of size-resolvedparticulate matter (PM1, PM2.5, PM4, PM10, and PM35) in indoor air of three rooms of a selected firestation in Poland (i.e. common room, laundry room, and garage); to compare them with the massconcentration of size-resolved PM in a single-family residential building; and to estimate andcompare the health exposure of occupants of these two building types related to measured PMconcentrations. At each point, measurements were conducted for 12 hours a day for 7 days in heating(26/01/2025–24/02/2025) and non-heating (27/05/2025–27/06/2025) seasons using Grimm 11-Daerosol spectrometer (optical method). As indicated by the data, elevated concentrations of PM wereobserved in both the fire station and the single-family house during the heating season whencompared to the non-heating season. During the heating season, the mean PM concentrationsranged from 17.1 to 68.0 μg/m3 and 17.5 to 48.4 μg/m3, while during the non-heating season, theyranged from 6.8 to 42.4 μg/m3 and 9.2 to 35.5 μg/m3 for the fire station and single-family house,respectively. At each measurement point, with the exception of the laundry room during the heatingseason, the majority of the PM mass was accumulated as coarse particles (55% to 72%). The exposureassessment demonstrated that the highest values of PM deposition in the lung alveoli were recordedfor the laundry room, garage, and single-family house during the heating season and for the laundryroom during the non-heating season. The results obtained in this study can be used in future studiesto assess the health risks of firefighters exposed to air quality inside fire stations. They can also beused to designate directions for further research in this area.

Source apportionment of environmentally persistent free radicals in size-resolved PM: Implications for driving oxidative potential and reactive oxygen species generation.

Oxidative potential of size-resolved PM related to water-soluble components and total and bioaccessible mass fractions of PAH derivatives

Aerosols, derived from natural processes and human activities, present various risks to the environment and human health. In this regard, the role of recent pollutant environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs) should not be overlooked. However, the oxidative toxicity and mass transfer processes of EPFRs in liquid-phase environments remain completely understood. In this study, the dispersion characteristics of EPFRs and their contributions to the oxidation potential (OP) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) in sea spray and size-resolved PM were investigated and compared. The results showed that the sea spray contained fast-decaying C-centred EPFRs with a half-life of 0.32 years. The concentration ranged from 0.3 × 1013 spins/m3 to 7.5 × 1013 spins/m3. It increased as the samples approached the coast. Moreover, the size-resolved PM contained slow-decaying O-centred EPFRs with a half-life of 0.51 years. The concentration ranged from 4.57 × 1013 spins/m3 to 11.46 × 1013 spins/m3, which was higher than that of most sea spray samples. The interaction between sea spray and water mainly generated hydroxyl free radicals (54 ± 3%), whereas the size-resolved PM mainly generated organic free radicals (64 ± 5%). Correlation analysis revealed that EPFRs may be involved in ROS generation. In addition, the mass transfer of EPFRs between the PM and sea spray may have been controlled by both gas and liquid films. The concentration of EPFRs at the phase interface was calculated to be 4.92 × 1013 spins/m3. In summary, EPFRs positively contribute to OP and ROS production.

This study investigated the size distributions, oxidative potential (OPv), and acute ecotoxicity index (TI) of atmospheric organic aerosols during haze and nonhaze periods in a coastal city in China. Results indicated higher OPv and TI levels during haze periods, with trimodal variations: the highest OPv peak in the 7.2–10 μm and the highest TI peak in the 0–0.49 μm. For the first time, multilayer perception analysis was applied to predict both OPv and ecotoxicity, offering enhanced accuracy by capturing synergistic and antagonistic interactions among various chemical components. Lung deposition doses of size-resolved PM inducing OPv and TI within the human respiratory system were estimated. Findings revealed that the largest particles (7.2–10 μm) predominantly affected the head airways, whereas particles in the 1.5–3.0 μm significantly impacted the pulmonary region. This behavior is attributed to quinones and high-molecular-weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (HMW-PAHs), which have higher deposition efficiency in the head airways and elevated concentrations in the pulmonary region, respectively. To mitigate health risks associated with these toxicants, efforts should target their size-dependent properties and lung deposition efficiency, considering various health end points. This study underscores the need for size-specific mitigation strategies to effectively address the differential impacts of PM on respiratory health.

Comparison of size-resolved PM elements measured using aluminum foil and Teflon impaction substrates: Implications for ultrafine particle source apportionment and future sampling networks in California

An advanced three-way factor analysis model (SDABB model) for size-resolved PM source apportionment constrained by size distribution of chemical species in source profiles

To examine the impacts of fireworks, size-resolved PM samples were collected using a single-particle aerosol mass spectrometer before, during and after the Spring Festival in a megacity in Chengdu, China. Chemical composition and atmospheric behavior of urban particles were studied. Ten major single particle types were resolved with ART-2a algorithm including elemental and organic carbon (ECOC), EC, OC, levoglucosan (LEV), high molecular weight organic molecules (HOM), hard metal (HM), K rich, Na rich and SiO3-. The average OC/EC ratios decreased in the order AY (4.7) > overall (4.1) > NY (4.0) > BY period (3.6), indicating that many organic pollutants had been generated after the Spring Festival. The concentrations of many species exhibited an increasing trend during the firework period, and the SOR and NOR showed a strong increase in NY period. SOR and NOR had a slight positive relationship with fireworks activity but no obvious relationship with temperature.

Physiochemical characteristics of aerosol particles collected from the Jokhang Temple indoors and the implication to human exposure

ABSTRACT This study investigated the PM1-2.5 (the intermodal fraction of particulate matter) representing the transition area between the fine and coarse size ranges. Due to this characteristic, PM1-2.5 may contain particles from both modes. The aim of this work was to examine the associations between PM1-2.5 and the coarse (PM2.5-10)/fine (PM1) fraction under different meteorological conditions at various sites in the Czech Republic during winter and summer. Size-resolved PM mass concentrations were determined and meteorological parameters recorded at an urban industrial and a suburban site in Ostrava during winter 2014 and at an urban traffic site and a suburban site in Prague during summer 2014 and winter 2015. The influence of sources producing the coarse/fine fraction on PM1-2.5 was investigated with an elemental composition analysis and an ion analysis (Ca2+-representing PM2.5-10 and SO42–-representing PM1). During all campaigns, PM1-2.5 accounted for 1–26% of PM10. In winter, crustal elements (Si, Fe, and Ca) significantly influenced the coarse fraction and even PM1-2.5 at all sites, while sulfur was significant in PM1-2.5 and the fine fraction at suburban sites. The median SO42– concentration was higher than the Ca2+ concentration in PM1-2.5 at all sites, except the industrial site, due to a specific source. The increased SO42– amount in PM1-2.5 was also observed in summer during rainy days (Prague urban site). In summer, crustal elements were important in both, PM1-2.5 and the coarse fraction, while S still dominated in PM1. Median SO42– concentrations in PM1-2.5 and the coarse fraction were significantly lower than in winter. The enrichment factors and wind speed-direction analysis helped to reveal potential air pollution sources. To conclude, according to the performed analyses, PM1-2.5 was influenced by the sources of the coarse fraction during all campaigns. The additional significant influence of sources producing the fine fraction was evident under increased relative humidity conditions.

ABSTRACTFine and coarse fractions of atmospheric aerosol overlap in the particle size range of about 1–2.5 µm (aerodynamic diameter). Sources of both fractions contribute to PM1-2.5 to different extents due to meteorological and spatial conditions. Therefore, there is ongoing discussion as to whether PM2.5 or PM1 should be included for monitoring as a fine particulate pollutant by the national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS). The aim of the presented study is to examine the association between the intermodal and PM1, PM2.5, coarse fraction, and meteorological parameters in various environments. Outdoor 24-h mass concentrations of size-resolved PM and meteorological conditions were measured at 12 sites within 42 campaigns between 11/2005 and 3/2015. The data set was divided into 10 environments reflecting season, locality, total measured PM, and placement of the impactor. We used two types of statistic methods: nonparametric correlation analysis and multiple linear regression (MLR). Median PM1-2.5 in PM10 or TSP percentages were 7% and 6% in summer and 7% and 9% in winter. On the other hand, PM1-2.5 accounted for a higher mass portion of PM2.5 during summer. Stronger positive correlation and relationship were identified between PM1-2.5 and the coarse fraction than between PM1-2.5 and PM1 in all environments. MLR confirmed the dependence of PM1-2.5 on PM1 in only 3 environments. This study found that PM1-2.5 in Central Europe represents mostly the “tail” of the coarse mode and probably has the same sources. Therefore, PM1 should be considered by the NAAQS as a fine particulate pollutant in Central Europe.

Improved understanding of the fractionation and geochemical characteristic of rare earth elements (REEs) from steel plant emissions is important due to the unclear atmospheric signature of these elements and their adverse impact on human health and the environment. In this study, ambient particulate matter of different sizes was collected from one site in an integrated iron and steelmaking industrial zone (HG) and one urban background site with no direct industrial emissions (ZWY) during a 1-year sampling campaign in China. The total concentrations of REEs for TSP, PM10, and PM2.5 were 27.248, 14.989, 3.542ng/m(3) in HG and 6.326, 5.274, 1.731ng/m(3), respectively, in ZWY, which revealed the local influence of the steelmaking activities to the air quality. With respect to ZWY, the REEs in HG site are obviously fractionated in the coarser fraction, and LREEs account for more than 80% of the total REE burden in all of the samples. Additionally, the REEs in HG and ZWY show a homogeneous trend with successively increased LREE/HREE ratios from the coarse particles to the fine particles. In our samples, La, Ce, Nd, and Sm are the most enriched rare earth elements, especially in the HG site. Moreover, ternary diagrams of LaCeSm indicate that the REEs in HG are potentially contributed by steelworks, carrier vehicles, coal combustion, and road dust re-suspension.

In this study we applied several assays, an in vitro rat alveolar macrophage model, a chemical ROS probe (DTT, dithiothreitol), and cytokine induction (TNFα) to examine relationships between PM-induced generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and PM composition, using a unique set of size-resolved PM samples obtained from urban and rural environments across Europe. From April-July 2012, we collected PM from roadside canyon, roadside motorway, and background urban sites in each of six European cities and from three rural sites spanning the continent. A Hi-Vol sampler was used to collect PM in three size classes (PM>7, PM7-3, PM3) and PM was characterized for total elements, and oxidative activity quantified in unfiltered and filtered PM extracts. We measured a remarkable uniformity in air concentrations of ROS and especially DTT activity across the continent. Only a 4-fold difference was documented for DTT across the urban sites and a similar variance was documented for ROS, implying that chemical drivers of oxidative activity are relatively similar between sites. The ROS and DTT specific activity was greater at urban background sites (and also rural sites) than at urban canyon locations. PM3 dominated the size distribution of both ROS activity (86% of total) and DTT activity (76% of total), reflecting both the large contribution of PM3 to total PM mass levels and importantly the higher specific oxidative activity of the PM3 in comparison with the larger particles. The soluble fraction of total activity was very high for DTT (94%) as well as for ROS (64%) in the PM3. However in the larger PM size fractions the contributions of the insoluble components became increasingly significant. The dominance of the insoluble PM drivers of activity was particularly evident in the TNFα data, where the insoluble contribution to cytokine production could be 100-fold greater than that from soluble components. ROS and DTT activity were strongly correlated in the PM3 (r = 0.93), however oxidative activity was not correlated with any measured inorganic element in this size cut. In contrast, significant correlations of both ROS and DTT oxidative activity with specific groups of chemical elements were documented in the larger PM size fractions.

Abstract. To quantify the total, direct and indirect impacts of fireworks individually, size-resolved PM samples were collected before, during and after a Chinese folk festival (Chinese New Year) in a megacity in China. Through chemical analysis and morphological characterisation, a strong influence of fireworks on the physicochemical characteristics of PM10 and PM2.5 was observed. The concentrations of many species exhibited an increasing trend during the heavy-firework period, especially for K+, Mg2+ and Cr; the results of the non-sea-salt ions demonstrated an anthropogenic influence on K+ and Mg2+. Then, source apportionment was conducted by receptor models and peak analysis (PA). The total influence of the fireworks was quantified by positive matrix factorisation (PMF), showing that the fireworks contributed higher fractions (23.40% for PM10 and 29.66% for PM2.5) during the heavy-firework period than during the light-firework period (4.28% for PM10 and 7.18% for PM2.5). The profiles of the total fireworks obtained by two independent methods (PMF and peak analysis) were consistent, with higher abundances of K+, Al, Si, Ca and organic carbon (OC). Finally, the individual contributions of the direct and indirect impacts of fireworks were quantified by chemical mass balance (CMB). The percentage contributions of resuspended dust, biomass combustion and direct fireworks were 36.8 ± 8.37%, 14.1 ± 2.82% and 44.4 ± 8.26%, respectively, for PM10 and 34.9 ± 4.19%, 16.6 ± 3.05% and 52.5 ± 9.69%, respectively, for PM2.5, in terms of the total fireworks. The quantification of the total, direct and indirect impacts of fireworks in the ambient PM gives a original contribution for understanding the physicochemical characteristics and mechanisms of such high-intensity anthropogenic activities.

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVAddition/CorrectionNEXTORIGINAL ARTICLEThis notice is a correctionCorrection to Real-Time Prediction of Size-Resolved Ultrafine PM on FreewaysSrijan Aggarwal, Ricky Jain, and Julian D. Marshall*Cite this: Environ. Sci. Technol. 2012, 46, 13, 7431–7432Publication Date (Web):June 15, 2012Publication History Published online15 June 2012Published inissue 3 July 2012https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/es301825vhttps://doi.org/10.1021/es301825vcorrectionACS PublicationsCopyright © 2012 American Chemical Society. This publication is available under these Terms of Use. Request reuse permissions This publication is free to access through this site. Learn MoreArticle Views381Altmetric-Citations-LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InRedditEmail PDF (462 KB) Get e-AlertscloseSupporting Info (1)»Supporting Information Supporting Information Get e-Alerts

Chemical characteristics of size-resolved PM 2.5 at a roadside environment in Beijing, China

Development and application of a three-dimensional aerosol chemical transport model, PMCAMx

Individual organic compounds found in particulate emissions from vehicles have proven useful in source apportionment of ambient particulate matter. Species of interest include the hopanes, originating in lube oil, and selected PAHs generated via combustion. Most efforts to date have focused on emissions and apportionment PM10 or PM2.5 However, examining how these compounds are segregated by particle size in both emissions and ambient samples will help efforts to apportion size-resolved PM, especially ultrafine particles which have been shown to be more potent toxicologically. To this end, high volume size-resolved (coarse, accumulation, and ultrafine) PM samples were collected inside the Caldecott tunnel in Orinda, California to determine the relative emission factors for these compounds in different size ranges. Sampling occurred in two bores, one off-limits to heavy-duty diesel vehicles, which allows determination of the different emissions profiles for diesel and gasoline vehicles. Although tunnel measurements do not measure emissions over a full engine duty cycle, they do provide an average emissions profile over thousands of vehicles that can be considered characteristic of "freeway" emissions. Results include size-fractionated emission rates for hopanes, PAHs, elemental carbon, and other potential organic markers apportioned to diesel and gasoline vehicles. The results are compared to previously conducted PM2.5 emissions testing using dynamometer facilities and othertunnel environments.

A European aerosol phenomenology—2: chemical characteristics of particulate matter at kerbside, urban, rural and background sites in Europe

A field evaluation of a new size-fractionating continuous fine particle nitrate monitor from Aerosol Dynamics Inc. (ADI), Berkeley, CA was conducted via comparison to traditional time-integrated filter (HEADS) and impactor (MOUDI) measurements. The new monitor consists of three cascaded integrated collection and vaporization cells (ICVC) and provides 10-min resolution particulate nitrate measurements in three particle diameter size ranges (0.10-0.45, 0.45-1.0, and 1.0-2.5 w m) corresponding to observed submodes in the particle size distribution in Southern California. Side-by-side sampling was conducted for approximately six months at two sites, both at downwind receptor locations east of downtown Los Angeles. Both size-resolved and total PM 2.5 nitrate concentrations were compared among the different sampling techniques. The ADI monitor and HEADS PM 2.5 nitrate measurements, for which nitrate sampling artifacts are expected to be low, are well correlated (r 2 = 0.79) with a geometric mean ADI:HEADS ratio...