The Challenges of Increasing the Copper Smelter Capacity on Ambient Air Quality in Bor (Serbia)

• Published in: Water, air, and soil pollution air, and soil pollution, 2023-02, Vol.234 (2), p.82, Article 82
• Main Authors: Živković, Živan, Panić, Marija, Fedajev, Aleksandra, Veličković, Milica
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air pollution; Air quality; Airborne particulates; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Cadmium; Capacity; Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts; Copper; Copper industry; Earth and Environmental Science; Environment; Environmental monitoring; Heavy metals; Hydrogeology; Legislation; Metal concentrations; Metals; Monitoring systems; Outdoor air quality; Particulate matter; Pollutants; Pollution levels; Pollution monitoring; Smelters; Soil Science & Conservation; Sulfur dioxide; Water Quality/Water Pollution
• ISSN: 0049-6979; 1573-2932
• DOI: 10.1007/s11270-023-06090-5

The paper presents the average daily and annual concentrations of SO 2 and PM 10 , as well as the content of heavy metals in PM 10 (As, Pb, Cd, Ni) in ambient air in Bor (Serbia). Data on pollutant concentrations were collected using seven monitoring stations located in the urban part of the city for the period 2014–2020. The results have shown that the annual concentrations of SO 2 exceeded the limits prescribed by Serbian legislation and WHO during the entire study period. The situation was the same regarding annual PM 10 and heavy metals concentrations. Additional analysis was performed using only data on pollutant concentrations measured in August during the observed period when there was no heating, and the frequency of traffic was reduced due to the holiday season, so the dominant source of air pollution was a copper smelter located in the close vicinity. The PROMETHEE/GAIA method was used to compare the pollution levels recorded in each year of the observation period. The findings suggested that the lowest pollution was recorded in 2016, while the highest was in 2017.