Determination of water-soluble and insoluble elements in PM2.5 by ICP-MS

M Manousakas; H Papaefthymiou; K Eleftheriadis; K Katsanou

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.06.043

Determination of water-soluble and insoluble elements in PM2.5 by ICP-MS

Sci Total Environ. 2014 Sep 15:493:694-700. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.06.043. Epub 2014 Jul 1.

Authors

M Manousakas¹, H Papaefthymiou², K Eleftheriadis³, K Katsanou⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, University of Patras, 265 00 Rio-Patras, Greece.
² Department of Chemistry, University of Patras, 265 00 Rio-Patras, Greece. Electronic address: epap@chemistry.upatras.gr.
³ Institute of Nuclear and Radiological Sciences, Energy Technology and Safety, Environmental Radioactivity Laboratory, N.C.S.R. "Demokritos", 15310 Ag. Paraskevi, Athens, Greece.
⁴ Laboratory of Hydrogeology, Department of Geology, University of Patras, 26500 Rio-Patras, Greece.

PMID: 24992462
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.06.043

Abstract

The elemental composition of water-soluble and acid-soluble fractions of PM2.5 samples from two different Greek cities (Patras and Megalopolis) was investigated. Patras and Megalopolis represent different environments. Specifically, Patras is an urban environment with proximity to a large port, while Megalopolis is a small city located close to lignite power plants. Both cities can serve as a representative example of European cities with similar characteristics. The concentration of 14 elements (As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Fe, Sr, Ti, V and Zn) was determined in each fraction by ICP-MS. Microwave assisted digestion was used to digest the samples using a mixture of HNO3 and HF. For the determination of the water soluble fraction, water was chosen as the simplest and most universal extraction solvent. For the validation of the extraction procedure, the recoveries were tested on two certified reference materials (NIST SRM 1648 Urban Particulate Matter and NIST 1649a Urban Dust). Results showed that Zn has the highest total concentration (273 and 186 ng/m(3)) and Co the lowest (0.48 and 0.23 ng/m(3)) for Patras and Megalopolis samples, respectively. Nickel with 65% for Patras and As with 49% for Megalopolis displayed the highest solubility, whereas Fe (10%) and Ti (2%) the lowest ones, respectively.

Keywords: Elemental analysis; ICP-MS; PM composition; PM(2.5); Water soluble fraction.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants / analysis
Air Pollutants / chemistry*
Particulate Matter / analysis
Particulate Matter / chemistry*
Solubility
Spectrophotometry, Atomic*

Substances

Air Pollutants
Particulate Matter