Seasonal Variation and Source Identification of PM₁₀ in an Industrialized City

Abstract

A 1‐year PM10 sampling campaign from January 2019 to December 2019 is conducted in an urban industrial area Raipur, India. For the development of effective pollution control strategies, quantitative assessment of potentially toxic metals and accurate identification of pollutant sources are essential. The annual average PM10 aerosol mass concentration during the study period is recorded as 187.89 ± 91 µg m−3. PM10 concentrations are found to vary with meteorological parameters such as wind speed, temperature, rainfall, and humidity. Heavy metals including Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn, Al, Ba, Cr, Sr, Ga, Mg, and V are studied using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). Seasonally, average winter time PM10 concentration (234.86 ± 104.3 µg m−3) is accounted higher as compared to summer (169.02 ± 27.1 µg m−3) and rainy season (106.28 ± 32.6 µg m−3) during the study period. The aerosol sources identified by positive matrix factorization (PMF) model are: iron and steel production (34.7%), vehicular emissions (29.3%), road dust (14.6%), heavy oil/petroleum (14.6%), and coal combustion (6.9%). Among these sources, iron and steel production contributes maximum in PM10 concentrations. The probable source locations are recognized through concentration weighted trajectory (CWT) analysis. The AirQ+ model is used to assess the health effects of regional PM10 concentrations.