TITLE:
Trace Metals Concentrations at the Atmosphere Particulate Matters in the Southeast Asian Mega City (Dhaka, Bangladesh)
AUTHORS:
Md. Faridul Islam, Syada Sanjida Majumder, Abdullah Al Mamun, Md. Badiuzzaman Khan, Mohammad Arifur Rahman, Abdus Salam
KEYWORDS:
Atmospheric Aerosol, Particulate Matter, Trace Metals, Arsenic, Lead and Cadmium
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Air Pollution,
Vol.4 No.2,
June
11,
2015
ABSTRACT: Atmospheric particulate matters were collected on quartz fibre filters
for 24 hours with a low volume sampler from January 2014 to March 2014 at the
Southeast Asian mega city (Dhaka, Bangladesh). Particulate matters samples were
analysed for eleven trace metals with inductively coupled plasma mass
spectrometer (ICP-MS) at Cà Foscari University of Venice, Italy. Trace metals were extracted from
filters with digestion method using a mixture of HNO3 and H2O2.
The average concentration of the determined trace metals of As, Cd, Ni, Cu, Pb,
Cr, Fe, Mn, Zn, Sband Se were 3.06, 6.28, 3.77, 11.98, 305.6, 9.2, 2057.0,
42.2, 303.3, 5.47 and 2.43 ng·mDž, respectively. Arsenic
concentration is much lower in the atmosphere of Dhaka, though Bangladesh has
severe arsenic problem in the ground water. Lead and cadmium concentrations
showed decreasing trend in Dhaka compared than previous measurements—but still they have very high levels compared than Europe and USA. There
is very limited information for Mn, Sb and Se concentrations in Dhaka air.
Correlation studies showed that several trace metals had potential joint sources
of origin, e.g., manganese is highly correlated with iron (r2 =
0.97) and nickel (r2 = 0.84), copper (r2 = 0.86); lead
with arsenic (r2 = 0.79) and antimony (r2 = 0.78). Enrichment
factors analysis was also done with the data base for the respective metals in
earth crust and coal fly ash. As and Cu both have combined sources, whereas Cd,
Pb and Zn were from coal fly ash.Trace metals concentrations in Dhaka city air
were much higher than Europe and USA but comparable or slightly lower than other
south Asian countries. This is the first extensive study for the eleven trace
metals with ICP-MS in Dhaka, Bangladesh.