Characterization of PM10 and PM2.5 and Their Metals Content in Different Typologies of Sites in South-Eastern Italy

Abstract

Samples of PM 10 and PM 2.5 were collected discontinuously between 2003 and 2010 at fifteen monitoring sites (urban, background, industrial) in the south-eastern part of Italy using a mobile laboratory. In total, 483 PM 10 and 154 PM 2.5 samples were collected and chemically analyzed for the determination of metal content. Data were used to investigate concentration differences among the typologies of sites, the seasonal patterns, and the influence of advection of Saharan dust (SD). PM 10 and PM 2.5 average concentrations increase from background to industrial and urban sites but the ratio PM 2.5 /PM 10 is significantly lower (0.61 ± 0.10) in background sites. The average metals concentrations in PM 10 and in PM 2.5 do not show a clear dependence on site typology apart an increase in crustal elements in background sites and an increase in the enrichment factors of Ni and of Cr in PM 10 in industrial sites. Urban sites show a statistically significant increase of PM 10 average concentration during the cold seasons (autumn and winter), likely associated with the anthropogenic urban emissions, instead, the background sites show a decrease in concentrations during the cold seasons. This could be due to more frequent cases of SD observed in spring and summer periods that mainly influence background sites. The seasonal difference on the average concentration for industrial sites is not statistically significant. The SD cases influence both PM 10 and PM 2.5 concentrations but their effect is significantly larger on PM 10 . Over the studied area, the effect is relatively limited on long-term average PM 10 (estimated increase of 3.2%) and PM 2.5 (estimated increase of 1.5%) concentrations but it OPEN ACCESSAtmosphere 2014, 5 436 is significant on daily concentrations. It is estimated an increase of 22% of the probability to overcome the air quality standard daily threshold for PM 10 .

Heavy Metals Size Distribution in PM10 and Environmental-Sanitary Risk Analysis in Acerra (Italy)

“…As is often linked in literature to the use of fossil fuel (traffic, domestic heating, natural gas, etc.). Ni is often described as a trace element in petroleum but it is also derived from the burning of lubricant oil [42], then the above mentioned differences between the concentrations registered during the autumn/winter and spring/summer semesters should be correlated to heating. Cr shows many anthropogenic sources, in particular coal burning and waste incineration [43].…”

Asthmatic symptoms and air pollution: a panel study on children living in the Italian Po Valley

“…Air pollution is a general problem that must be taken seriously Lary et al, 2014). Many studies have attempted to characterise the particulate air pollution from industrial and traffic sources (Contini et al, 2014;López et al, 2011) by using source apportionment approaches that identify different sources in the receptor points of sampling (Herrera Murillo et al, 2013;Gugamsetty et al, 2012;Khodeir et al, 2012). Marchetti et al (2014) evaluated children breathing symptoms in relation to industrial atmospheric pollution based on geographical proxy measures for exposure.…”

Characteristics and Sources of Metals in TSP and PM2.5 in an Urban Forest Park at Guangzhou

“…Numerous studies have confirmed the close relationships between the high concentrations of TSP, PM 2.5 and an increased risk of respiratory symptoms, cancer and even mortality rates [1][2][3][4]. Besides their adverse effects on visibility [5], TSP and PM 2.5 have been found to be the carriers of pathogenic bacteria that lead to fatal diseases [6] and toxic metals that result in human dysfunction and various diseases [4,7,8].…”