Sedimented airborne particulates

Emissions of dust are crucial sources of pollution of the atmosphere by anthropogenic activities. The impact of emissions on territories is essentially determined by the amount of sedimented airborne particulate matter [KOMMISSION FUR UMWELTSCHUTZ, 1976]. In routine monitoring the assessment of these loadings is usually conducted by determining the total sedimented airborne particulates (TSP) in monitoring raster screens and comparison with legally fixed thresholds. Commonly, the positions of the dust-sam-... 

The amounts of 16 elements (see also Tab. 7-1) were determined with the above mentioned method of emission spectrographic analysis in a total of 170 samples of sedimented airborne particulates from three urban areas (Gera, Jena, and Greiz) in Thuringia (Germany) during one year of investigation. 

The following investigation has also been conducted to detect the influence of a regular emitter on the area under investigation. A representative reference dust sample was taken in the stack of a big industrial heating plant, located in the heavily loaded area C (see Fig. 7-7). The dust sample was analyzed in a manner analogous with the sedimented airborne particulates. The obtained data vector was added as a test data set to the above described classification model. The emitted dust from the stack showed the high-... 

Thermoanalytical investigations of sedimented airborne particulates [EINAX and LUDWIG, 1991] confirm experimentally the chemometrically found interpretation that aluminum can serve as an indicator element for lignite combustion. Thermogravimetric analysis of mixed samples of sedimented dusts detect a loss of mass at a temperature of 714°C this can be interpreted as dehydration of aluminosilicates. This loss of mass exhibits a well defined summer minimum and a strong winter maximum. These findings also correspond to the results from factor analysis (see Section 7.2.1.2.4). 

Tab. 7-2. Origins of variances in the elemental content of sedimented airborne particulates...

The basis of the application of FA was a data matrix containing 17 features of 52 sedimented airborne particulate samples collected during a period when buildings were being heated. According to Fig. 7-10 the application of the scree plot [CATTELL, 1966] indicates four common factors. 

FA was accomplished from the data set of sedimented airborne particulates sampled in the summer. The factor loading matrix is demonstrated and discussed in Tab. 7-4. 

The results of spectrographic analysis of sedimented airborne particulates collected during routine monitoring of the environment show high, environmentally caused, variability. Objective assessment of loading states, and still less of emission sources, can, there-... 

At one sampling point near the Technical University of Kosice (Slovakia) (see Fig. 7-13) sedimented airborne particulate matter was sampled by the above described BER-GERHOFF method (see also Section 7.2.1.1) over a period of two and a half years. Tab. 7-5 shows the analytical methods applied for the determination of the elemental composition of the dust samples. 

FA was next applied to identify and to characterize sources of the airborne particulates in the different particle sizes. The use of FA for solving this task is described in the literature, e.g. for total suspended dust and for total sedimented airborne particulates [KEIDING et al., 1987 EINAX and DANZER, 1989], For the present problem the question is is it possible to obtain plausible and interpretable solutions by applying FA to each particle size fraction if they are very similar in their composition ... 

Fig. 9-19. Impact of pollution by sedimented airborne particulate emission in the surroundings of the metallurgical factory and the cement mill in 1989 (deposition rate in g nT2 d )...

Based on these and other measurements of PAH levels, we suggest the following scenario for the transport of PAH. The various fuels which are burned in metropolitan areas produce airborne particulate matter (soot and fly ash) on which polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are adsorbed. These particles are transported by the prevailing wind for distances which are a strong function of the particle s diameter. We suggest that the long range airborne transport of small particles accounts for PAH in deep ocean sediments. 

This chapter describes analytical procedures of the highest potential for analysis of biological (physiological fluids and tissues) and environmental (plants, airborne particulates and dusts, soils and sediments) samples for Pt and Ru used in chemotherapy and for Pt, Pd, and Rh used as components of autocatalysts. 

CRM for road dust (BCR-723) containing 81.3 2.5 Jg/kg Pt, 6.1 1.9 ig/ kg Pd, and 12.8 1.3 Jg/kg Rh, was introduced [49, 228]. It is widely used for quality control of results obtained in the analysis of environmental materials (e.g., airborne particulate matters, dusts, soils, and sediments). Comparison of results obtained using different analytical procedures and interlaboratory studies are recommended when there is a lack of suitable CRM (e.g., in examination of clinical samples). The use of standards based on real matrices (e.g., saliva, plasma, ultrafiltrates, and lung fluids) instead of synthetic solutions is recommended in such analyses. Difficulties with the identification and quantification of different metal species in examined samples make the reliability of results of great importance. The use of various instrumental techniques for examination of particular samples can be helpful. The application of chromatography, mass spectrometry, and electrochemistry [199] HPLC ICP MS and HPLC MS/MS [156] ESI MS and MALDI [162] micellar electrokinetic chromatography, NMR, and MS [167] AAS, ESI MS, and CD spectroscopy [179] SEC IC ICP MS and EC ESI MS [180] and NMR and HPLC [229] are examples of such approaches. 

The analytical methods used for the determination of uranium in environmental samples are basically the standard methods reviewed in brief in Chapter 1. The main differences are in the sample preparation procedures required for the analysis of the variety of environmental samples that include soil of different types, sediments, diverse types of vegetation, water from different sources with a wide range of acidity, salinity, suspended matter, etc. In addition, the environmental samples may include airborne particulate matter, vapors, and gases, as well as special samples involved in the food chain that may affect humans. Einally, the interplay of uranium (and other contaminants) between the environmental compartments—for example, the transfer factors of uranium from soil-to-plant or from vegetation to food products (e.g., free-range grazing cattle) are also part of the media that need to be characterized. 

The location of sediments on river bottoms and ocean floors precludes much direct interaction between deposited sediment particles and people. In conuast, particulates that are suspended in air, even temporarily, can be inhaled by us, causing health problems. As with sediment particles, airborne particulates are characterized primarily by their size, and their size influences their overall toxicity. 

Except for fine particulate matter (0.2 /xm or less), which may remain airborne for long periods of time, and gases such as carbon monoxide, which do not react readily, most airborne pollutants are eventually removed from the atmosphere by sedimentation, reaction, or dry or wet deposition. 

Airborne particles may be delivered to surfaces by wet and dry deposition. Several transport mechanisms, such as turbulent diffusion, precipitation, sedimentation, Brownian diffusion, interception, and inertial migration, influence the dry deposition process of airborne particles. Large particles (dNIOAm) are transported mainly by sedimentation hence, large particulate PAHs tend to be deposited nearer the sources of emission Small particles (dblAm), which behave like gases, are often transported and deposited far from where they originated (Baek et al., 1991 Wu et al., 2005). 

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