A comparison of PM exposure related to emission hotspots in a hot and humid urban environment: Concentrations, compositions, respiratory deposition, and potential health risks

You, S. , Yao, Z., Dai, Y. and Wang, C.-H. (2017) A comparison of PM exposure related to emission hotspots in a hot and humid urban environment: Concentrations, compositions, respiratory deposition, and potential health risks. Science of the Total Environment, 599-60, pp. 464-473. (doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.04.217)

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Abstract

Particle number concentration, particle size distribution, and size-dependent chemical compositions were measured at a bus stop, alongside a high way, and at an industrial site in a tropical city. It was found that the industry case had 4.93 × 107–7.23 × 107 and 3.44 × 104–3.69 × 104 #/m3 higher concentration of particles than the bus stop and highway cases in the range of 0.25–0.65 μm and 2.5–32 μm, respectively, while the highway case had 6.01 × 105 and 1.86 × 103 #/m3 higher concentration of particles than the bus stop case in the range of 0.5–1.0 μm and 5.0–32 μm, respectively. Al, Fe, Na, and Zn were the most abundant particulate inorganic elements for the traffic-related cases, while Zn, Mn, Fe, and Pb were abundant for the industry case. Existing respiratory deposition models were employed to analyze particle and element deposition distributions in the human respiratory system with respect to some potential exposure scenarios related to bus stop, highway, and industry, respectively. It was shown that particles of 0–0.25 μm and 2.5–10.0 μm accounted for around 74%, 74%, and 70% of the particles penetrating into the lung region, respectively. The respiratory deposition rates of Cr and Ni were 170 and 220 ng/day, and 55 and 140 ng/day for the highway and industry scenarios, respectively. Health risk assessment was conducted following the US EPA supplemented guidance to estimate the risk of inhalation exposure to the selected elements (i.e. Cr, Mn, Ni, Pb, Se, and Zn) for the three scenarios. It was suggested that Cr poses a potential carcinogenic risk with the excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR) of 2.1–98 × 10− 5 for the scenarios. Mn poses a potential non-carcinogenic risk in the industry scenario with the hazard quotient (HQ) of 0.98. Both Ni and Mn may pose potential non-carcinogenic risk for people who are involved with all the three exposure scenarios.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:This research program is funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF), Prime Minister's Office, Singapore under its Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) program. Grant Number R-706-001-101–281, National University of Singapore.
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:You, Dr Siming
Authors: You, S., Yao, Z., Dai, Y., and Wang, C.-H.
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
Journal Name:Science of the Total Environment
Publisher:Elsevier
ISSN:0048-9697
ISSN (Online):1879-1026
Published Online:05 May 2017
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V.
First Published:First published in Science of the Total Environment 599-600: 464-473
Publisher Policy:Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy

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