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Chemical characterization of fine particulate matter, source apportionment and long-range transport clusters in Thohoyandou, South Africa
- Source :
- Clean Air Journal, Volume: 30, Issue: 2, Pages: 1-12, Published: 2020, Clean Air Journal, Vol 30, Iss 2 (2020)
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- National Association for Clean Air, 2020.
-
Abstract
- This paper presents a chemical characterization of fine particulate matter (PM25) in air masses passing through Thohoyandou and further determines their sources. PM25 samples were collected and quantified using the gravimetric method. X-ray fluorescence, smoke stain reflectometer, optical transmissometer and scanning electron microscopy - energy dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy were used to determine the chemical and morphological composition of the particulate matter. The source apportionment was done using principal component analysis while the HYSPLIT model was used to depict the long-range transport clusters. The mean of concentrations of PM25, soot, black carbon and UVPM were 10.9 ug/m³, 0.69x10-5 m-1, 1.22 μg/m³ and 1.40 μg/m³, respectively. A total of 24 elements were detected in the PM25 with Pd, Sn, Sb, Mg, Al, and Si being the dominant elements. SEM-EDS have shown the presence of irregular, flat and spherical particles which is associated with crustal material and industrial emissions. Source apportionment analysis revealed six major sources of PM25 in Thohoyandou namely, crustal materials, industrial emissions, vehicular emissions, urban emissions, fossil fuel combustion and fugitive-Pd. Air parcels that pass through Thohoyandou were clustered into four groupings. The major pathways were from the SW Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and inland trajectories. Clusters from the ocean are associated with low concentration, while inland clusters are associated with high concentration of PM25. The PM25 levels occasionally exceeded the daily WHO guideline (25 μg/m³) in Thohoyandou and the sources of PM25 extend beyond the borders. This study recommends that further studies need to be carried out to assess the health impacts of PM25 in Thohoyandou.
- Subjects :
- 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
principal component analysis
010501 environmental sciences
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
medicine.disease_cause
Atmospheric sciences
01 natural sciences
lcsh:Environmental pollution
Apportionment
medicine
lcsh:Science
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Transmissometer
Range (particle radiation)
backward trajectories
source apportionment
Particulates
Pollution
Soot
Characterization (materials science)
PM25 characterization
lcsh:TD172-193.5
HYSPLIT
Gravimetric analysis
Environmental science
lcsh:Q
long range clusters
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Clean Air Journal, Volume: 30, Issue: 2, Pages: 1-12, Published: 2020, Clean Air Journal, Vol 30, Iss 2 (2020)
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....9bfb881c541e5742ecd3448d91ffab66