Paper
Occurrence of Toxic Trace Metals in Health-Significant Atmospheric Particles
- Authors:
- Simeon Taole; Nnenesi Kgabi; Amanda Bubu
- Abstract
- In this study, the sampling of size segregated particulates was performed by using a three-stage Dekati PM10 Cascade Impactor. The concentration of toxic elements in the different particle sizes was determined using Particle Induced X-ray Emission. This study focused on determination of the concentration of toxic elements in different particle sizes. The highest level of particulate matter (PM) at daytime was 90 μg.m-3 while at night-time, the concentrations ranged between 0.04 µg.m-3 and 0.8 μg.m-3. The toxic elements Cr, Ni, V and Pb were identified in the PM10, PM2.5, PM1.0 and PM<1 samples. The Cr concentrations exceeded the limits of 1 μg.m-3 for NIOSH and also the 1.5 μg.m-3 limit for APCEL. The WHO standards of 0.5 μg.m-3 and 1 μg.m-3 for Pb and V respectively were not exceeded. The study suggests the need for more prolonged, continuous studies so as to establish trends and seasonal variations in particulate matter and toxic metals.
- Keywords
- Toxic Metals; Particulate Matter; Size Distribution; Sources of Atmospheric Particles; Particle Induced X-Ray Emission
- StartPage
- 9
- EndPage
- 15
- Doi
- 10.5963/IJEP0501002