Pollution characteristics and health risk assessment of heavy metals in PM2.5 in Fuxin, China

Abstract

Fuxin is located in the atmospheric channel around Bohai Bay, and its geographical location is very special. Few existing studies have studied the pollution characteristics and health risk assessment of heavy metals in atmospheric PM2.5 in four seasons in Fuxin, so a total of 180 PM2.5 samples were collected from four sampling sites in Fuxin during the period from December 2021 to November 2022. The seasonal distribution characteristics of V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb, As, Sb, Cd and Ba were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS), and the source of heavy metals was analyzed by enrichment factor (EF). Health risk model was used to examine the health risk assessment of respiratory exposure in men, women and children in Fuxin. The results reveal that, the annual average mass order of heavy metal in Fuxin PM2.5 was Zn（0.2947μg·m-3）>Pb（0.0664μg·m-3）>As（0.0225μg·m-3）>Ba（0.0205μg·m-3）>Mn（0.0187μg·m-3）>Cu（0.0140μg·m-3）>Cr（0.0095μg·m-3）>V（0.0067μg·m-3）>Ni（0.0061μg·m-3）>Sb（0.0024μg·m-3）>Cd（0.0019μg·m-3）>Co（0.0007μg·m-3. The annual average concentration of As was 3.75 times of the GB3095-2012(China) secondary standard limit, the concentration of hazard quotient (HQ) in PM2.5 was lower than 1, but the concentration of incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) in As was higher than the cancer risk threshold (10-4). These findings indicate the certain risk of cancer in the urban population of Fuxin. Therefore, it is necessary to control the emissions created from the coal-burning to minimize the health risks to the people of Fuxin.