Specific sources of health risks caused by size-resolved PM-bound metals in a typical coal-burning city of northern China during the winter haze event

High particulate matter (PM) pollution frequently occurs in winter over northern China , resulting in threats to human health. To date, there are limited studies to link source apportionments and health risk assessments in the different size-resolved PM samples during high PM events. In this study,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Science of the total environment 2020-09, Vol.734, p.138651-138651, Article 138651
Main Authors: Lin, Yu-Chi, Zhang, Yan-Lin, Song, Wenhuai, Yang, Xiaoying, Fan, Mei-Yi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Coal-combustion
Deposition efficiency
Health risk assessments
PM-bound metals
PMF model
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Summary:High particulate matter (PM) pollution frequently occurs in winter over northern China , resulting in threats to human health. To date, there are limited studies to link source apportionments and health risk assessments in the different size-resolved PM samples during high PM events. In this study, size-segregated PM samples were collected in Linfen, a typical coal-burning city, in northern China during a wintertime haze pollution. In addition to water-soluble ions and carbon contents, metallic elements in the different size-segregated PM samples were also determined for health risk assessments by inhalation of PM. During the sampling period, the average concentration of PM10 was 274 ± 57 μg m−3 with a major fraction (73%) of organic material and secondary-related aerosols, and an insignificant portion of trace elements (TEs, ~ 3%). The size distribution showed that As and Se, markers of coal combustion, exhibited a mono-modal distribution with a major peak at 0.4–0.7 μm and the others mostly possessed mono−/bi-modal patterns with a major peak at 3.3–5.8 μm. The cancer risk (CR) resulted from PM10 metals by inhalation was estimated to be 2.91 × 10−5 for children and 7.75 × 10−5 for adults while non-cancer risk (NCR) was 2.10 for children and 0.70 for adults. Chromium (Cr) was the dominant species (~89%) of cancer risk in PM10. Road dust was a major fraction (~65%) to total metals in coarse PM (dp > 3.3 μm) whereas coal combustion was a dominant source (~55%) in submicron (dp 
ISSN:0048-9697
1879-1026
DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138651