Determination of elemental composition of airborne dust and dust suspended in rain

To clarify the magnitude of wash-out effect of rain on the elemental composition of airborne dust and the possible origin of the dust, the dust samples were collected with a high-volume air sampler at the JAERI-Tokai. The dust suspended in rain was also collected from rain by filtration. Up to 20 elements in both types of the dust were determined by instrumental neutron activation analysis. It was found that the elements determined could be classified into 3 groups from the elemental composition and the elemental correlation in both types of the dust samples.     

Effect of change of environmental conditions on the elemental composition of airborne dust

In order to assess the extent of the elimination of humidity and the presence of pine trees on the elemental composition of airborne dust, the concentration of 21 elements were measured in airborne dust collected with a high-volume sampler at JAERI by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). It was found that the concentration of soil-origin elements, such as Al, Sc and Th, decreased as the humidity increased, and the Cl/Na ratio of sea salt constituent in the dust samples increased with the decrease of humidity after the felling of the trees.     

Study of quality control and metal distribution in urban airborne particulates

In this investigation, results of 33 elements in airborne samples collected continuously over nine urban locations are discussed. Inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry technique was used for determining concentration of metals. Quality control was established prior to analysis of real air samples. The guidelines followed are based on USEPA Compendium Method IO-3.4. Uncertainty in analysis was also established. Based on the concentration of metals in airborne particulates, we attempted to study the metal distribution characteristics in ambient air at various urban locations. Metals such as Al, Ca, Fe were comparatively at higher concentrations than the other elements under study at most of the locations. The city vehicles operate on lead-free fuels; however, concentration of lead in urban dust was observed in the concentration range of 0.33–6.24 μg/m³. Soil samples were also collected from sites close to the air sampling locations. Soil samples were also analysed for metal content. Enrichment factor was determined for elements measured at nine urban locations. The data supports interpretation of results in terms of contribution of metals in airborne particulates from anthropogenic and noncrustal origin.     

Morphological and chemical characteristics of airborne tungsten particles of Fallon, Nevada.

Morphological and chemical characteristics were determined for airborne tungsten particles in Fallon, Nevada, a town that is distinguishable environmentally by elevated airborne tungsten and cobalt. From samples of airborne dust collected previously at six different places in Fallon, tungsten-rich dust particles were isolated and analyzed with automated electron microprobe and wavelength-dispersive spectrometry. Representative W particles were further analyzed using transmission electron microscopy. Morphologically, Fallon W particles are angular and small, with minimum and maximum sizes of < or = 1 microm and 5.9 microm in diameter, respectively. The number and size of tungsten-rich particles decrease in Fallon with distance from a hard-metal facility located near the center of town. Chemically, Fallon airborne W particles include mixtures of tungsten with cobalt plus other metals such as chromium, iron, and copper. No W-rich particles were identifiable as CaWO4 (scheelite) or MnWO4 (huebnerite). From d-spacings, Fallon particles are most consistent with identification as tungsten carbide. Based on these multiple lines of evidence, airborne W particles in Fallon are anthropogenic in origin, not natural. The hard-metal facility in Fallon processes finely powdered W and W-Co, and further investigation using tracer particles is recommended to definitively identify the source of Fallon's airborne tungsten.     

Geochemical studies on the Chernobyl radioactivity in environmental samples

Artificial radionuclides in deposition and airborne dust samples in 1986 were measured at Tsukuba and 11 stations in Japan. In May 1986, the Chernobyl radioactivity was observed in rain and air samples in Japan. The Chernobyl-derived Pu isotopes, which are characterized by higher²³⁸Pu/^239,240Pu (85) and²⁴¹Pu/²³⁸Pu (0.5) activity ratios than those of the nuclear test-derived Pu and⁹⁰Sr, were detected in deposition and airborne dust samples in Japan, as well as volatile radionuclides such as¹³¹I and¹³⁷Cs. However, the activities of Pu isotopes and⁹⁰Sr observed in Japan were about two and three orders of magnitude lower than those expected from the activity ratios in the total release at Chernobyl, which means that the residence time of Pu in the air was shorter than that of¹³⁷Cs. In order to understand the fractionation between the Chernobyl radionuclides we studied about individual wet and dry deposition. The results suggest that this cause is due to the difference of the particle size of radionuclide-bearing particles, which may be related to the release process of Chernobyl radionuclides.     

Gamaspekrometrie atmosphärischer Schwebestäube mit Ge(Li)-Detektoren

Gamma-ray spectrometric measurements of nearground atmospheric aerosols by means of a lead shielded 80 cm³ Ge(Li)-coaxial detector are reported. The dust samples were taken from air-conditioning filters. Data on activity concentration of various natural and man-made airborne radionuclides are given and discussed for the time period from Octobr 1980 to November 1982. These data are useful in estimating the population's radiation burden due to gamma-ray emitting radionuclides.     

Determination of fatty acids in airborne particulate matter, dust and soot by mass chromatography

Extracts from mixture airborne particulate matter, dust taken from an air filter and some soots were fractioned by alumina column chromatography. The solution eluted with ethanol-actic acid (9:1) contained fatty acids and other polar substances. After heating the solution with a small amount of sulphuric acid, the esters of the fatty acids formed were extracted and separated from other polar substances by column chromatography. Identification and quantification were performed by mass chromatography at the molecular ion masses of the esters. Fatty acids from octanoic to tetratriacontanoic acid were determined in these samples and dotriacontanoic, tritricontanoic and tetratriacontanoic acids were found for the first time.     

Platinum traces in airborne particulate matter. Determination of whole content, particle size distribution and soluble platinum

Summary During a period of almost one year airborne dust was collected at the area of ISAS, Dortmund. The total platinum content varied from 0.6 to 130 µg/kg, respectively from 0.02 to 5.1 pg/m³. The impactor measurements resulted in an equal distribution of platinum in combination with particle sizes ranging between 0.5 and 8 µm. The lowest concentrations were observed for the larger particles (>8m). The soluble platinum in airborne dust was determined to be 30 to 43% of the total amount of platinum and 2.5 to 6.9% in tunnel dust.Dedicated to Professor Dr. Wilhelm Fresenius on the occasion of his 80th birthday     

Preconcentration of platinum group metals on modified silicagel and their determination by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in airborne particulates

Modified silicagel (C18) was studied for separation and preconcentration of platinum group metals (Ru, Rh, Pd, Os, Ir and Pt) as ion associates of their chlorocomplexes with cation of onium salt N(1-carbaethoxypentadecyl)-trimethyl ammonium bromide. Sample containing HCl and the onium salt was pumped through the column. After elution with ethanol the eluate was evaporated in the presence of HCl. Resulting aqueous solutions were analysed with inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Recovery values of 1-20 mug Pt and Pd from 50 ml of synthetic pure solution were 100+/-3 and 100+/-1%, respectively, however, they diminished with increasing sample volume and in the presence of the real sample matrix or nitrate ions. Samples of engine soot (NIES No. 8), decomposed by low pressure oxygen high-frequency plasma, and airborne particulates from dust filters of meteorological stations, leached with HNO(3) and H(2)O(2), were analysed. A reasonable agreement was found between ICP-MS and ICP-AES results for airborne dust samples and the values comparable with those in literature were determined in NIES No. 8.     

Trace element levels of aerosols at an urban area of Korea by instrumental neutron activation analysis

Instrumental neutron activation analysis was used to measure the concentrations of about 27 elements associated with airborne PM 10 samples that were collected from a roadside sampling station at a moderately polluted urban area of Taejon city, Korea. The magnitude of their concentrations was clearly distinguished and spanned over four orders. If compared in terms of enrichment factors, it was found that certain elements (e.g., As, Br, Cl, Sb, Se, and Zn) are enriched in PM 10 samples of the study site. The factor analysis indicated three factors with statistical significance, which may exert dominant controls on regulating the metal concentration levels in the study area.     

Natural sources and heavy metals

PTS, PM10 and PM2.5 samples have been collected at a rural site of south-east Italy (40 degrees 20' 13" N; 18 degrees 6' 47" E) from June to October, 2004 to investigate natural and anthropogenic contributions on particulate matter and heavy metal mass concentrations. It is shown that sharp-peak particulate-matter concentrations have been recorded during most African dust outbreaks occurred over south-east Italy. In particular, PM10 concentrations exceeding the 24-hour limit value of 50 microg/m3 have been monitored during dust events. Al, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, V, Ni, Pb, and Zn metal concentrations have been evaluated by an inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer and Al mass concentrations >500 ng/m3 have been observed in PTS and PM10 samples during the advection of African dust particles. Accordingly to geochemical calculations Al, Fe, and Mn, have a significant crustal origin while, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn are of anthropogenic origin. Moreover, Fe resulted predominant in the coarse particle fraction, while Ni, Pb, V, and Zn were predominant in the fine particle fraction. It is also shown that Cd, Mn, Ni, Pb, and V concentrations never exceeded guide and/or limit values recommended by the World Health Organization and the European Council Directives.     

Source identification and long-term monitoring of airborne particulate matter (PM<Subscript>2.5</Subscript>/PM<Subscript>10</Subscript>) in an urban region of Korea

Summary For the identification of air pollution sources, about 500 airborne particulate matter (PM_2.5and PM₁₀) samples were collected by using a Gent air sampler and a polycarbonate filter in an urban region in the middle of Korea from 2000 to 2003. The concentrations of 25 elements in the samples were measured by using instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). Receptor modeling was performed on the air monitoring data by using the positive matrix factorization (PMF2) method. According to this analysis, the existence of 6 to 10PMF factors, such as metal-alloy, oil combustion, diesel exhaust, coal combustion, gasoline exhaust, incinerator, Cu-smelter, biomass burning, sea-salt, and soil dust were identified.     

高温煤气铁钙基脱硫剂再生研究

在固定床装置上考察了温度和氧浓度对铁钙基脱硫剂再生率以及二次脱硫活性的影响，同时还考察了此脱硫剂用于模拟的脱硫除尘一体化条件下，黏附于表面的粉尘对脱硫剂再生行为以及二次脱硫行为的影响。结果表明，该脱硫剂在480 ℃下再生效果良好，650℃再生率下降，在考察的温度区间内（400 ℃～650 ℃）温度对二次脱硫活性影响较小，在以后的循环中，温度对再生率以及脱硫活性的影响也小，再生气氛中氧浓度对再生率以及二次脱硫活性的影响不明显；研究发现加入粉尘虽然会降低脱硫剂的再生率，但基本不影响二次脱硫活性。     

Multielementanalyse von Schwebst?uben der Stadt Ulm und Vergleich der Luftbelastung mit anderen Regionen

Zusammenfassung Es wurden die Konzentrationen von 54 Elementen in der Luft der Stadt Ulm, die als Beispiel für eine mittelgroße Industriestadt angesehen werden kann, bestimmt. Hierfür wurden die auf Celluloseacetatmembranfiltern mit durchflußgeeichten Geräten gesammelten Schwebstäube von zwei Probenahmeorten in der Innenstadt (Stadtzentrum/Münster und Ehinger Tor — ein stark frequentierter Verkehrsknotenpunkt) mittels INAA, ETAAS und Mikrotitrimetrie analysiert.Im Vergleich mit dem Stadtzentrum wurde in der Luft des Standortes Ehinger Tor für fast alle Elemente eine deutlich höhere Konzentration gemessen, die im allgemeinen auf eine höhere Gesamtstaubkonzentration zurückzuführen ist. Lediglich die Elemente Br, Cr, Cu, Mo, Pb und Sb sind auch im Luftstaub dieses Sammelortes erheblich angereichert. Dies kann durch den Straßenverkehr als Emissionsquelle an diesem stark frequentierten Verkehrsknotenpunkt erklärt werden. Im Stadtzentrum wurden die Elementhöhenprofile durch Probenahme in 2, 16 und 70 m über dem Boden ermittelt. Für die meisten Elemente konnte dabei kein wesentlicher Einfluß dieses Probenahmeparameters auf die Konzentration festgestellt werden.Allgemein liegen die ermittelten Konzentrationen im Rahmen der wenigen anderen bisher untersuchten mittelgroßen Städte.

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Multielement analysis of airborne dust of the city of ulm and comparison with other regions

Summary The concentrations of 54 elements were determined in the air of the city of Ulm, which can serve as an example for a well industrialized city of medium size. The airborne dust samples were collected at two places (city center/Münster and Ehinger Tor — a center of traffic) with flow calibrated samplers on cellulose acetate membrane filters, and analyzed by INAA, ETAAS and micro titration.The higher concentrations of nearly all elements in the air of the sampling place Ehinger Tor in comparison with that of the city center is approximately proportional to the increased concentration of the whole dust at this sampling place. Only the Elements Br, Cr, Cu, Mo, Pb and Sb are enriched in the airborne dust, which can be explained by the heavy street traffic at this sampling place. In the city center, samples were collected in the height of 2, 16 and 70 m and, for most elements, only a slight effect of the height on the concentration was found.The element concentrations determined in the air of the city of Ulm are generally at similar level as available results for some few other medium large cities.

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Herrn Prof. Dr. Hartkamp zum 60. Geburtstag gewidmet     

Chemical characterization of airborne particulate matter in ambient air of Nagoya, Japan, as studied by the multielement determination with ICP-AES and ICP-MS.

The multielement determination of PM(10) (airborne particulate matter smaller than 10 microm) samples, which was collected by a high volume air sampler at the urban site of Nagoya City, was carried out by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The present analytical method was validated by analyzing urban particulate matter standard reference material of NIST SRM 1648. The analytical data for ca. 30 elements in PM(10) samples collected during a period from 8 September to 9 October, 2003, were obtained in the concentration range from sub-microg g(-1) to several-10 mg g(-1), but the data for 18 elements among ca. 30 elements were available for the characterization of PM(10) samples in ambient air, because of problems caused by the filter blanks. Then, the trends concerning the distributions of diverse elements in PM(10) samples were analyzed based on the enrichment factors and size distribution factors. The lithophile and siderophile elements were distributed more than 50% in coarse particle fraction (>2.1 microm), which was derived mainly from natural sources, such as soils and crustal minerals. On the other hand, chalcophile elements were distributed more than 50% in fine particle fraction (<2.1 microm), which was derived mostly from anthropogenic emission sources. The large enrichment of chalcophile elements in PM(10) samples as well as their mining influence factors (MIFs) suggested their wide use in industrial productions.     

Assignment of Saharan dust sources to episodes in Hungarian atmosphere by PIXE and TOMS observations

Summary Thirty-seven episodes of dust intrusion were observed between February 12, 1991 and August 31, 2000 in the Hungarian atmosphere and found to be of Saharan origin. They have been assigned to typical source areas in Northern Africa selected by systematic investigations related to the Mediterranean Basin. Elemental concentrations and regional signatures deduced from PIXE analysis, total suspended particle mass, and black carbon mass have been measured on dust samples collected in Debrecen, Hungary. These data combined with Aerosol Index data, and dust plume axes obtained from TOMS data from NASA satellites were used for assigning the most probable source areas of the dust transported to the sampling site. Our data and conclusions are in accordance with other published investigations on the predominant role of Saharan dust emission in building up the aerosol load of the global atmosphere.     

Neutron activation analysis on sediments from Victoria Land,Antarctica: multi-elemental characterization of potential atmospheric dust sources

The elemental composition of 40 samples of mineral sediments collected in Victoria Land, Antarctica, in correspondence of ice-free sites, is presented. Concentration of 36 elements was determined by instrumental neutron activation analysis, INAA. The selection of 6 standard reference materials and the development of a specific analytical procedure allowed to reduce measurements uncertainties and to verify the reproducibility of the results. The decision to analyze sediment samples from Victoria Land ice-free areas is related to recent investigations regarding mineral dust content in the TALos Dome ICE core (159°11′E; 72°49′S, East Antarctica, Victoria Land), in which a coarse local fraction of dust was recognized. The characterization of Antarctic potential source areas of atmospheric mineral dust is the first step to identify the active sources of dust for the Talos Dome area and to reconstruct the atmospheric pathways followed by air masses in this region during different climatic periods. Principal components analysis was used to identify elements and samples correlations; attention was paid specially to rare earth elements (REE) and incompatible/compatible elements (ICE) in respect to iron, which proved to be the most discriminating elemental groups. The analysis of REE and ICE concentration profiles supported evidences of chemical weathering in ice-free areas of Victoria Land, whereas cold and dry climate conditions of the Talos Dome area and in general of East Antarctica.     

Influence of fire retardants on the combustibility of decorative resins based on butadiene-styrene and butadiene rubber combination

The results of investigations of the influence of fire retardants on the combustibility and elastic-strength properties of light-colored resins based on a combination of butadiene-styrene and butadiene rubber are presented. The amounts of fire retardants required for production of decorative self-extinguishing resin of light color based on a combination of butadiene-styrene and butadiene rubber were established. The influence of the ratio of rubbers on the temperature limit of brittleness of the self-extinguishing resin samples was studied.     

Unsicherheiten bei der Abscheidung von Schwebstaub an Filtern

Summary Different samples of airborne particulate matter collected successively by highly effective aspirators were analysed for Al, Si, S, K, Ca and Fe by XRF. The results show that there is not only a distinct alteration of the content during short intervals of time, but also a remarkable change in the quantitation of the particular elements in the dust composition. By synchronous aspiration in a distance of 1 m it was possible to show that the local distribution is also different. In the experiments to be reported there are differences greater then 10% in respect of particular elements. In comparison with this, the decomposition of the dust during the aspiration is not significant. But it has to be taken into consideration if only parts of the filter disk are used for analysis.     

Microwave assisted sample preparation for determining water-soluble fraction of trace elements in urban airborne particulate matter: evaluation of bioavailability

The feasibility of using two different microwave-based sample preparation methods was investigated to determine the total and water-soluble trace metal fraction in airborne particulate matter. The extraction techniques were then applied to urban particulate matter of different sizes in order to evaluate their bioavailability of associated trace metals. While a combination of HNO₃-HF-H₂O₂ was used for the total trace metal fraction of particulate matter, water was employed for the microwave-assisted extraction of water-soluble trace metal fractions. Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used for the analysis of trace elements. The experimental protocol for the microwave assisted digestion was established using two different SRMs (1648, urban particulate matter and 1649a, urban dust). In the case of water-soluble trace metal fraction, the quantities extracted from the SRMs were compared between ultrasonic and microwave-assisted extractions, and there was a good agreement between the two extraction methods. Blanks values and limits of detection (LODs) for total and water-soluble trace metal concentrations were determined for three different filter substrates (Teflon, Zeflour, and Quartz). Subsequently, the proposed digestion method was evaluated for its extraction efficiency with these filter substrates. Finally, the real-world application of the proposed microwave-based sample preparation methods was demonstrated by analyzing trace elements in airborne particulate samples collected from different outdoor environments in Singapore. The solubility of 11 trace elements detected in the particulate samples is quantified.