Particle size distribution and air pollution patterns in three urban environments in Xi’an, China

Abstract

Three urban environments, office, apartment and restaurant, were selected to investigate the indoor and outdoor air quality as an inter-comparison in which CO2, particulate matter (PM) concentration and particle size ranging were concerned. In this investigation, CO2 level in the apartment (623 ppm) was the highest among the indoor environments and indoor levels were always higher than outdoor levels. The PM10 (333 µg/m(3)), PM2.5 (213 µg/m(3)), PM1 (148 µg/m(3)) concentrations in the office were 10-50% higher than in the restaurant and apartment, and the three indoor PM10 levels all exceeded the China standard of 150 µg/m(3). Particles ranging from 0.3 to 0.4 µm, 0.4 to 0.5 µm and 0.5 to 0.65 µm make largest contribution to particle mass in indoor air, and fine particles number concentrations were much higher than outdoor levels. Outdoor air pollution is mainly affected by heavy traffic, while indoor air pollution has various sources. Particularly, office environment was mainly affected by outdoor sources like soil dust and traffic emission; apartment particles were mainly caused by human activities; restaurant indoor air quality was affected by multiple sources among which cooking-generated fine particles and the human steam are main factors.

Exposure to Particulate Matter in Different Regions along a Road Network, Jharia Coalfield, Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India

“…This may be due to presence of coal fire, mining activities and road transportation (heavy vehicles). Similar findings have been reported earlier also 8,40,41 . Figure 5 shows particle mass concentration analysis on the basis of size (0.225-34.0 m) at all locations.…”

“…The analysis showed that majority of alveolic mass particles fall under inhalable particles mass concentration. Earlier studies also reported similar findings 20,40 . Table 5 presents ratio of thoracic/inhalable, alveolic/ thoracic and alveolic/inhalable.…”

Characteristics, Sources, and Health Risk Assessment of Trace Elements in PM10 at an Urban Site in Chengdu, Southwest China

“…In particular, these particles contain toxic metals and exhibit higher possibilities of causing cancer (Dockery et al, 1993). Over the past decade, special attention has been paid to investigate the concentrations, chemical characteristics, sources, and adverse health effects of PM pollution in megacities of China (Chen et al, 2013;Lu et al, 2015;Niu et al, 2015;Hu et al, 2016;Lyu et al, 2016;Ma et al, 2016;Madaniyazi et al, 2016;Chen et al, 2017;Peng et al, 2017), and high concentrations of toxic metals in PM 10 have been reported in many cities (Kan et al, 2012;Lu et al, 2015).…”

What is the health cost of haze pollution? Evidence from China

“…Since the late 1990s, epidemiologists have paid substantial attention to the study of air particulates and found that particles are the most harmful air pollutant to physical health. One of the main components of the haze, fine particles (PM 2.5 ), are a great threat to human health (eg, Pope et al; Niu et al; Chen et al) that increase the incidence of respiratory diseases, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and lung cancer, and therefore may aggravate the risk of death. At the same time, the short‐term concentration change in haze pollutants is highly correlated with daily mortality .…”