Investigating the concentration & chemical characterization of PM10 in western part of Islamabad (T-1279) (MFN 4263)

Abstract

In this study the concentration of PM10 followed by heavy metal detection and quantification was carried out. PM10 sampling was done by using high volume sampler at IESE, NUST H-12 Islamabad. The sampling duration for each sample was 24 hours. The sampling of PM10 was carried out from March 2014 to December 2014.The results shown that the concentration of PM10 varied from 117 μg/m3to 196 μg/m3with an overall mean concentration of 160 μg/m3. The levels of PM10 showed also seasonal variation with maximum levels of PM10 in June, April and December while the lowest levels were observed in September. From the analyzed data the overall concentration of PM10 in most of the samples were considerably high as compared to permissible limits by WHO as well as NEQS. The XRF result demonstrate the presence of Si, K, Ca, Ti, Zn, Fe and S in most of the samples while some samples showed presence of Cr, Pb ,Cl as well. Most of the dominant elements in all samples were meant to be associated with the dust. Atomic Absorption Spectrometer was used in order to analyze PM10 samples quantitatively. Selected samples were analyzed by AAS, specifically the samples which showed the presence of toxic metals by XRF analysis. The ground PM10 data was also compared with Terra-Modis data in order to find a relationship. The AOD also showed higher values in June, April and December validating the acquired PM10 data.