Using multi-site data to apportion PM-bound metal(loid)s: Impact of a manganese alloy plant in an urban area

Abstract

The identification and quantification of the PM emission sources influencing a specific area is vital to better assess the potential health effects related to the PM exposure of the local population. In this work, a multi-site PM 10 sampling campaign was performed in seven sites located in the southern part of the Santander Bay (northern Spain), an urban area characterized by the proximity of some metal(loid) industrial sources (mainly a manganese alloy plant). The total content of V, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Mo, Cd, Sb and Pb was determined by ICP-MS. This multi-site dataset was evaluated by positive matrix factorization (PMF) in order to identify the main anthropogenic metal(loid) sources impacting the studied area, and to quantify their contribution to the measured metal(loid) levels. The attribution of the sources was done by comparing the factor profiles obtained by the PMF analysis with representative profiles from known metal(loid) sources in the area, included in both the European database SPECIEUROPE (V2.0) and the US database EPA-SPECIATE (V4.5) or calculated from literature data. In addition, conditional bivariate probability functions (CBPF)s were used to assist in the identification of the sources. Four metal(loid) sources were identified: Fugitive and point source emissions from the manganese alloy plant (49.9% and 9.9%, respectively), non-exhaust traffic emissions (38.3%) and a minor source of mixed origin (1.8%). The PMF analysis was able to make a clear separation between two different sources from the manganese alloy plant, which represented almost 60 % of the total measured metal(loid) levels, more than 80% of these emissions being assigned to fugitive emissions. These results will be useful for the assessment of the health risk associated with PM 10-bound metal(loid) exposure and for the design of efficient abatement strategies in areas impacted by similar industries.

Quantification of manganese species in particulate matter collected in an urban area nearby a manganese alloy plant

“…As Table 2 shows, despite the average PM 10 concentration at the CCV site (26.6 µg•m -3 ) was well below the annual limit value established by Directive 2008/50/CE (40 µg•m -3 ), the mean air Mn concentration obtained in this campaign (208.6 ng•m -3 ) was above the 150 ng•m -3 recommended by the WHO as the annual guideline value, reaching maximum daily concentrations up to 1138.9 ng•m -3 . As can be seen in Table 3, Olmo, 2019). In this regard, mean values of temperature (20 ºC) and relative humidity (81.6 %) were similar to those usually found in spring in the same area.…”

Airborne concentration and deposition of trace metals and metalloids in an urban area downwind of a manganese alloy plant

“…In this regard, at the CROS site only the content of both Mn and Cd in PM 10 and bulk atmospheric deposition samples presented strong and significant correlation coefficients (r=0.684, p<0.01 and r=0.680, p<0.01, respectively). These metals have been previously identified as the main tracers of the Mn alloy plant emissions (Hernández-Pellón and Fernández-Olmo, 2019). On the other hand, at the ETSIIT site, located further from the Mn alloy plant, metals and metalloids did not show any significant correlation between their content in PM 10 and deposition samples.…”

“…In addition, the higher Cu and Mo levels in summer at the ETSIIT site could be attributed to the greater influence of road traffic as a result of increased tourism during this period of the year. Also, the concentrations of V and Ni are quite constant throughout the year, therefore it is likely that ship emissions from the Santander Bay is the major source of these metals instead of residential combustion (Arruti et al, 2011;Hernández-Pellón and Fernández-Olmo, 2019).…”

Short- and long-term exposure to trace metal(loid)s from the production of ferromanganese alloys by personal sampling and biomarkers

“…These elevated levels were mainly due to the emissions from a ferromanganese alloy production plant located in this area; approximately, 91% of air Mn emitted in this area comes from this factory (Otero-Pregigueiro et al, 2018 ). In addition, a source apportionment study carried out in this area also identified Cd, Fe, Pb and Zn as tracers from this plant (Hernández-Pellón & Fernández-Olmo, 2019 ). However, other local sources of metal(loid)s apart from the ferromanganese alloy exist, such as road traffic, combustion and other industrial sources, leading to moderate levels of Cu and As (Hernández-Pellón & Fernández-Olmo, 2019 ).…”