Emission of black carbon in heavy traffic areas of Jamshedpur and Ranchi: Risk exposure to humans

Abstract

The suspended aerosol particulate matters are global issue towards the environmental loss as it contaminates the atmosphere. This study explains the comprehensive investigation of BC concentration and its health risk estimation in different topographical urbanites i.e., Jamshedpur (JSR), and Ranchi (RNC). The concentration of BC as 15.87 µgm-3 at JSR, and 12.16 µgm-3 at RNC using the portable aethalometer (AE-33) and air sampler (Envirotech APM 550 mini). The BC concentration was observed higher at JSR, it may be due to the high traffic load and industrial emission in AIADA region (Adityapur Industrial Area Development Authority). Similarly, concentration of PM2.5 was observed around 165.4 µgm-3, and 151.3 µgm-3 in above respective sites. The health risk was calculated around 17.4, 21.4, 10.2 and 16.7 number of PSC (passive smoking cigarette) per day concerning to health outcomes of LBW, PLFD, CM and LC respectively in JSR which observed higher compared to RNC (i.e., 10.6, 14.3, 8.5 and 12.8) which might be due to larger consumption of coal and fuel in Industrial city, JSR. Backward Trajectory analysis explained that the dispersal of airborne particulate matter mostly coming from southwestern part of India and Arabian sea in all the two sites.