Mass-size distribution of PM 10 and its characterization of ionic species in fine (PM 2.5 ) and coarse (PM 10−2.5 ) mode, New Delhi, India

Khem Singh (), S. Tiwari, A. Jha, Shankar Aggarwal, D. Bisht, B. Murty, Zahid Khan and Prabhat Gupta

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, 2013, vol. 68, issue 2, 775-789

Abstract: Size distribution of PM 10 mass aerosols and its ionic characteristics were studied for 2 years from January 2006 to December 2007 at central Delhi by employing an 8-stage Andersen Cascade Impactor sampler. The mass of fine (PM 2.5 ) and coarse (PM 10−2.5 ) mode particles were integrated from particle mass determined in different stages. Average concentrations of mass PM 10 and PM 2.5 were observed to be 306 ± 182 and 136 ± 84 μg m −3 , respectively, which are far in excess of annual averages stipulated by the Indian National Ambient Air Quality Standards (PM 10 : 60 μg m −3 and PM 2.5 : 40 μg m −3 ). The highest concentrations of PM 10−2.5 (coarse) and PM 2.5 (fine) were observed 505 ± 44 and 368 ± 61 μg m −3 , respectively, during summer (June 2006) period, whereas the lower concentrations of PM 10−2.5 (35 ± 9 μg m −3 ) and PM 2.5 (29 ± 13 μg m −3 ) were observed during monsoon (September 2007). In summer, because of frequent dust storms, coarse particles are more dominant than fine particles during study period. However, during winter, the PM 2.5 contribution became more pronounced as compared to summer probably due to enhanced emissions from anthropogenic activities, burning of biofuels/biomass and other human activities. A high ratio (0.58) of PM 2.5 /PM 10 was observed during winter and low (0.24) during monsoon. A strong correlation between PM 10 and PM 2.5 (r 2 = 0.93) was observed, indicating that variation in PM 10 mass is governed by the variation in PM 2.5 . Major cations (NH 4 + , Na + , K + , Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ ) and anions (F − , Cl − , SO 4 2− and NO 3 − ) were analyzed along with pH. Average concentrations of SO 4 2− and NO 3 − were observed to be 12.93 ± 0.98 and 10.33 ± 1.10 μg m −3 , respectively. Significant correlation between SO 4 2− and NO 3 − in PM 1.0 was observed indicating the major sources of secondary aerosol which may be from thermal power plants located in the southeast and incomplete combustion by vehicular exhaust. A good correlation among secondary species (NH + , NO 3 − and SO 4 2− ) suggests that most of NH 4 + is in the form of ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate in the atmosphere. During winter, the concentration of Ca 2+ was also higher; it may be due to entrainment of roadside dust particles, traffic activities and low temperature. The molar ratio (1.39) between Cl − and Na + was observed to be close to that of seawater (1.16). The presence of higher Cl − during winter is due to western disturbances and probably local emission of Cl − due to fabric bleaching activity in a number of export garment factories in the proximity of the sampling site. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

Keywords: Ionic species (cations and anions); Particulate matter; Size distribution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11069-013-0652-8 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:68:y:2013:i:2:p:775-789

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11069

DOI: 10.1007/s11069-013-0652-8

Access Statistics for this article

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards is currently edited by Thomas Glade, Tad S. Murty and Vladimír Schenk

More articles in Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards from Springer, International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().