A review of sulfur dioxide and particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) in greater Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

The coordinates of Greater Cairo area are 30•08_N, 31•34_E (Figure 1). Greater Cairo is the most highly density region in Egypt -Africa with about more than 19 million. 5 Geographically, Greater Cairo city is bordered from the east direction by El-Mokattam Hills to the Eastern Desert, and from the west by Abu-Rawash Hills and the Western desert. The climate is sunny and dry. Meteorologically, Greater Cairo is affected by desert weather; the annual precipitation range is 1-15mm and the annual temperatures range is 14 -34°C. The most predominant wind direction is from north for 9.8 months and from west for 2.2 months. The average wind speed during the winter season is above 9 m/s, which led to reduce the relative humidity in amient air of Greater Cairo than during summer season. 9 These climate conditions enable particulate matter to be suspended in the air. If there is no rain and the wind speed is relatively low, the pollutants accumulate in higher concentrations. This leads to the smog phenomena. 10 Industry is a major source of pollution in Cairo. In Egypt; 52% of the industries, 40% of thermal power stations and more than 2 million vehicles per day are found in Greater city. Vehicles running in Greater Cairo streets are old, 60% of which are over 10 years old. In addition, due to lack of rains and layout of tall buildings and narrow streets, Greater Cairo has very poor dispersion conditions, which create a bowl effect. Also, it is considered one of the highest polluted megacities in the world. Fuels used for vehicle in Greater Cairo are unleaded gasoline, diesel and natural gas. 11 Finally, about

Risk analysis of NO2 and SO2 gas exposure for leather tannery workers industry at Magetan

“…SO2 (sulphur dioxide) is a gas with a pungent odour that is colourless, irritant, non-flammable and non-explosive. The effects that SO2 can have are very dangerous to human health, in particular it can affect the respiratory system and lung function and cause eye irritation [8]. Inflammation of the respiratory tract causes coughing, mucus secretion, asthma and chronic bronchitis, and makes people more susceptible to respiratory infections [9].…”