Analytical Sciences

Chemical Characterization of Airborne Particulate Matter in Ambient Air of Nagoya, Japan, as Studied by the Multielement Determination with ICP-AES and ICP-MS

Taku FUKAI, Tatsuya KOBAYASHI, Masahiro SAKAGUCHI, Masanori AOKI, Tsuyoshi SAITO, Eiji FUJIMORI, and Hiroki HARAGUCHI

Department of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan

The multielement determination of PM₁₀ (airborne particulate matter smaller than 10 µm) samples, which was collected by a high volume air sampler at the urban site of Nagoya City, was carried out by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The present analytical method was validated by analyzing urban particulate matter standard reference material of NIST SRM 1648. The analytical data for ca. 30 elements in PM₁₀ samples collected during a period from 8 September to 9 October, 2003, were obtained in the concentration range from sub-µg g^-1 to several-10 mg g^-1, but the data for 18 elements among ca. 30 elements were available for the characterization of PM₁₀ samples in ambient air, because of problems caused by the filter blanks. Then, the trends concerning the distributions of diverse elements in PM₁₀ samples were analyzed based on the enrichment factors and size distribution factors. The lithophile and siderophile elements were distributed more than 50% in coarse particle fraction (>2.1 µm), which was derived mainly from natural sources, such as soils and crustal minerals. On the other hand, chalcophile elements were distributed more than 50% in fine particle fraction (<2.1 µm), which was derived mostly from anthropogenic emission sources. The large enrichment of chalcophile elements in PM₁₀ samples as well as their mining influence factors (MIFs) suggested their wide use in industrial productions.

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