Elemental Composition of PM2.5 Particles Sampled in Industrial and Residential Areas of Taif, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This paper describes the first part of a project conducted to evaluate the trace element composition of atmospheric aerosol particles (PM 2.5 ) and to determine their influence on air quality in Taif city, Saudi Arabia. PM 2.5 particles were collected from two different sites (industrial and residential) in Taif during the summer of 2011. The industrial site was situated in the largest industrial area of Taif, and the residential site was situated in the city's most crowded area. PM 2.5 samples were collected on polycarbonate filters using a cyclonic collector. Each sample was collected over a 24 hour period and new samples were collected weekly. Average PM 2.5 concentrations of 47 ± 15 and 46 ± 31 µg/m 3 were seen in the industrial and residential areas, respectively. An Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrometer with a Mo secondary target was used to analyze the solid samples because of the relative simplicity of the technique for filter analysis. The use of a Mo secondary target is advantageous, because it decreases the impact of continuum radiation from the X-ray tube and increases the signal to background ratio. Quantitative X-ray Analysis Software (PyMca) was used to perform quantitative analysis of the atmospheric aerosols. The analysis resulted in detected concentrations for sixteen elements; Si, S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Rb, Sr, Pb and Black Carbon (BC). Using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) it was possible to distinguish between natural and anthropogenic sources. The measured concentrations of the potentially hazardous trace elements Cu, Cr, Mn, Ni and Pb were below the limits defined by international guidelines and national standards for ambient air quality. However, further long-term research will be required to validate the quantification of trace elements in particulate matter in Taif.

Particulate Matter and Number Concentrations of Particles Larger than 0.25 µm in the Urban Atmosphere of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

“…There have been few studies that presented the current state of PM concentrations in Saudi Arabia (Khodeir et al, 2012;Habeebullah, 2013;Munir et al, 2013a, b;Rushdi et al, 2013;Shaltout et al, 2013). However, none of these previous studies presented a comprehensive analysis on the temporal variation of PM concentrations and only one of them was dedicated to Jeddah city (Khodeir et al, 2012).…”

“…The higher number reported in our study here are due to the fact that we included all possible events such as dust episodes in our calculations. Shaltout et al (2013) focused on the chemical composition of PM 2.5 during June-August 2011 at an industrial site and a residential site in Taif, which is a mountain city about 140 km east of Jeddah city. The overall PM 2.5 concentration reported in there were 47 ± 15 µg/m 3 and 46 ± 15 µg/m 3 at the industrial and the residential sites, respectively.…”

“…They also analysed the gravimetric samples with the X-ray fluorescence (XRF) to obtain the chemical composition of aerosols. Shaltout et al (2013) focused on the chemical composition of PM 2.5 during June-August 2011 at an industrial site and a residential site in Taif, which is a mountain city about 140 km east of Jeddah city. Rushdi et al (2013) presented PM 2.5 and PM 10 concentrations at ten locations within the capital city Riyadh during June andNovember 2006 andFebruary andMay 2007. The longest data series on air quality parameters (NO x , NO, NO 2 , SO 2 , CO, O 3 and PM 10 ) was published by the Hajj Research Institute, Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah (Munir et al, 2013b), which is about 70 km to the east of Jeddah.…”

Mobile Aerosol Measurement in the Eastern Mediterranean - A Utilization of Portable Instruments

“…So far, the aerosol research has been focused on aerosol optical properties (Elminir, 2005;El-Metwally and Alfaro 2013), airborne dust (monitoring, source region, and transport) (Satheesh et al, 2006;El-Askary and Kafatos, 2008;Reid et al, 2008;El-Askary et al, 2009;Dada et al, 2013;Alam et al, 2014;Gherboudj and Ghedira, 2014;Saeed et al, 2014;Basha et al, 2015), transport of anthropogenic aerosols (e.g., Kuwait: impacts of 1991 oil fire plumes in Kuwait) (Lowenthal et al, 1992;Daum et al, 1993;Herring et al, 1996;Rudich 2003;Tazaki et al, 2004;Bonazza et al, 2007), chemical analysis and gaseous pollution (Shaka' and Saliba, 2004;Kouyoumdjian and Saliba, 2006;Saliba et al, 2007;Mahmoud et al, 2008;El-Araby et al, 2011;Dobrzhinsky et al, 2012;Boman et al, 2013;Daher et al, 2013;Engelbrecht and Jayanty, 2013;Hassan et al, 2013;Waked et al, 2013a, b;Jafar et al, 2014;Roumie et al, 2015), and particulate matter (PM) (Saliba et al, 2010;Khodeir et al, 2012;Habeebullah, 2013;Munir et al, 2013a, b;Rushdi et al, 2013;Shaltout et al, 2013;Alghamdi et al, 2014a, b;Hussein et al, 2014a;…”

Chemical Characterization and Source Apportionment of PM2.5 in Rabigh, Saudi Arabia

“…Detailed operational procedure for ED-XRF is described elsewhere (Shaltout et al, 2013). The instrument was energy (eV) calibrated for every batch sequence of samples.…”