Determination of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) in Airborne Particulate Matter (APM) Collected in Tokyo, Japan, and a Positive Anomaly of Europium and Terbium

Abstract

The determination of rare earth elements (REEs) in airborne particulate matter (APM) was conducted, and the distribution pattern of atmospheric REEs was evaluated in this study. The APM was collected in the center of Tokyo, Japan, where serious air pollution is always of concern. A cellulose acetate membrane filter was used to collect the APM because Ba and REEs contamination is lower than that in a quartz glass fiber filter. The REEs measurement was conducted by ICP-MS after the digestion of the APM by a microwave acid digestion procedure. The standard reference material (SRM) of NIST 1648 urban particulate matter was used to validate the accuracy of the analytical method. The analytical results for SRM well agreed with those of the reference and reported values. Consequently, the analytical method established in this study was applied to the determination of REEs in APM collected in Tokyo, Japan. The obtained REEs distribution pattern in the APM showed a positive anomaly of Tb and Eu. The La/Sm ratio, which is considered to be as a good indicator of the anthropogenic effect, in size-classified APM showed a high degree of the anthropogenic effect in fine APM with a diameter of <1.1 μm. Emission sources of Tb, Eu and other REEs are discussed.

Elemental analysis of natural quartz from Um Higlig, Red Sea Aea, Egypt by instrumental neutron activation analysis

“…For uranium we use of the most intensive 106 keV peak of 239 Np. The degree of interference strongly depends on the detector resolution and on the way of activation (El-Taher, 2010d;El-Taher, 2010e;Borovička et al, 2011;Zhao et al, 2008;Suzuki et al, 2010). Table 5 summarizes the nuclear data and the average concentrations of fifteen elements determined in natural quartz samples in mg/kg or percent compared with Turekian models of geochemical distribution of elements in the earth crust (Turekian, 1971;Turekian and Wedepohl 1961).…”

Application of Nuclear Analytical Techniques in Elemental Characterization of Wadi El-Nakhil Alabaster, Central Eastern Desert, Egypt

“…The 396 keV peak cannot be resolved from nearby peaks of 152 Eu 383 keV and 233 Pa 381 keV. For lutetium, the high abundance peak at 208 keV of 177m Lu was used [23][24][25].…”

Acceleration of Vaporization, Atomization, and Ionization Efficiencies in Inductively Coupled Plasma by Merging Laser-Ablated Particles with Hydrochloric Acid Gas

“…2 We have been monitoring airborne particulate matter (APM) in the Tokyo area since 1995. [3][4][5] Recently, Nishiguchi et al realized real-time monitoring by a direct introduction of APM into an ICP by means of a gas exchange device (GED), which permits the exchange of air for argon molecules without the loss of APM. 6,7 We have reported the use of a GED to determine Pb in a single particle of APM.…”