Determination of Select Heavy Metals in Air Samples from Aurangabad City

Abstract

Living organisms require trace amounts of certain heavy metals, including cobalt, copper, manganese, molybdenum, strontium, and zinc but excessive levels can be detrimental to the organism. Other heavy metals such as mercury, lead, and cadmium are known to have vital impact on organisms; however, their accumulation over time in the bodies of mammals can cause serious illness. The particulate heavy metals can have severe toxic and carcinogenic effect for humans when inhaled in higher concentration. Therefore monitoring of heavy metals present in particulate matter is an important environmental issue. In this work, the atmospheric concentrations of selected heavy metals including Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Nickel (Ni), Manganese (Mn), and Zinc (Zn) were measured for different sampling sites in Aurangabad city of Maharashtra. High volume air samplers and glass fiber filters were used to collect the samples. The collected