Inorganic analysis of dust fall and office dust in an industrial area of Jordan

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2003.12.005

Environmental Research

Volume 96, Issue 2, October 2004, Pages 139-144

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2003.12.005 Get rights and content

Abstract

This article deals with the determination and comparison of heavy metals and water-soluble anions and cations in indoor dust and outdoor dust fall in the petroleum refinery area in Jordan. Three sampling sites were considered in the Jordanian petroleum refinery complex for the collection of dust fall and office dust samples. These samples were analyzed for water-soluble anions (F⁻, Cl⁻, Br⁻, NO₃⁻, C₂O₄²⁻, and SO₄²⁻) and cations (Li⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺, and Ca²⁺) using auto-suppressed ion chromatography. Heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, Cr, Fe, and Al) were determined using flame or graphite-furnace atomic absorption. No correlations were found between heavy metal concentrations in dust fall and office dust samples, indicating different sources. High enrichment factors for heavy metals were found in dust-fall samples, except for Fe and Cr. Zinc showed the highest and cadmium the lowest flux rates.

Introduction

Studies of the contamination of airborne particulate with heavy metals indicate two main sources, anthropogenic and soil erosion patterns, and the particulate matter concentration depends on atmospheric conditions (González et al., 1997; Kroger, 1990). Vehicle emissions have been found to be a significant source of particulate contamination (Clarke et al., 1996). Depletion of air pollutants can take place via either wet or dry precipitation. The settling velocity of air particulates is a function of particle size. Heavy metal pollution of particulate matter has been studied extensively, and elements such as Pb, Ni, Cd, Cr, and others have been evaluated (Sadiq and Mian, 1993; Raoof and Al-Sahhaf, 1992; Negi et al., 1996; Moyers et al., 1977; Rizzio et al., 1999; Momani et al., 2000).

Indoor air pollutants may emanate from many sources, including the infiltration of outdoor pollutants such as dust, soil, fuel consumption products, smoking, and building and furniture materials (Madany et al., 1994). There have been a number of studies characterizing indoor air and comparing it with outdoor air.

In this paper we describe measurements of indoor and outdoor settleable particles in the petroleum refinery complex in Zarqa, Jordan. The refinery was officially inaugurated on 2 February 1961, with a capacity of 1000 tons per day, which was then expanded to over 8700 tons per day. Other facilities were established inside the refinery complex, such as a power-generation facility, a chemical treatment plant, a Lup-oil blending plant, a cylinder factory, storage tanks, and filling stations. The refinery complex is located about 5 km northeast of Zarqa city, the second largest city in Jordan, with about 1 million inhabitants. A relatively busy road, carrying about 500 vehicles per h, passes between the refinery and a large power-generation station east of the refinery.

Section snippets

Sampling

Nine dust-fall samples were collected from the tops of three buildings inside the refinery complex (the Transportation, Environmental, and General Management buildings) using polyethylene containers (14.5 cm in diameter, 14 cm height) fixed with holders and placed on the tops of these 15-m building during the period 2 September to 2 November 1998. This period represents the end of the dry season; collection during this season avoided the rainy season and the washout effects.

Ten office dust

Heavy metal analysis

Six heavy metals (Pb, Cu, Fe, Cr, Cd, and Zn) and the reference element (Al) were analyzed in office dust and dust-fall samples from the Jordanian refinery complex. The best regression lines were employed to compute the concentrations of these heavy metals in different types of real samples.

Dust fall

The means and spatial distributions of heavy metal content in dust-fall samples are shown in Table 1. Relatively elevated levels of heavy metals were observed compared with soil samples taken from the same

Conclusions

The following may be concluded:

(1)
Enrichment factors of heavy metals in office dust are higher than their counterparts in dust fall, indicating more anthropogenic sources of pollution in office dust.
(2)
Zinc showed the highest and cadmium the lowest flux rates among the heavy metals studied.
(3)
Relatively high levels of water-soluble anions and cations were observed in office dust.

References (19)

A.G. Clarke et al.
Vehicular particulate emissions and roadside air pollution
Sci. Total Environ.
(1996)
B.E. Davies et al.
The relationships between heavy metals in garden soil and house dusts in an old lead mining area of North Wales, Great Britain
Environ. Pollut. Ser. B
(1985)
M.F. El-Ghandour et al.
Studies on air pollution from construction plants in the Helwan area. III. Alkali, earth alkali and heavy metal constituents of dust-fall
Environ. Pollut. Ser. B
(1982)
Z. Kozak et al.
Precipitation of heavy metals in the Leczna–Wlodawa lake region
Sci. Total Environ.
(1993)
I.M. Madany et al.
The correlations between heavy metals in residential indoor dust and outdoor street dust in Bahrain
Environ. Int.
(1994)
O.J. Ogunsola et al.
Preliminary elemental characterization of roadside dust in Lagos, Nigeria
Sci. Total Environ.
(1994)
S.A. Raoof et al.
Study of particulate pollutants in the air of Riyadh by dispersion fluorescence spectrometry
Atmos. Environ.
(1992)
E. Rizzio et al.
Trace elements total content and particle size distribution in the air particulate matter of a rural–residential area in north Italy investigated by instrumental neutron activation analysis
Sci. Total Environ.
(1999)
R.M. Tripathi et al.
Atmospheric deposition of Pb, Cd, Cu, and Zn in Bombay, India
Atmos. Environ.
(1993)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (53)

Heavy metals in indoor dust: Spatial distribution, influencing factors, and potential health risks
2021, Science of the Total Environment
Citation Excerpt :
Indoor dust pollution of heavy metals has been extensively studied in schools (Liu et al., 2016; Habil et al., 2013; Zhong et al., 2014; Sulaiman et al., 2017), especially preschools (Latif et al., 2014; Lu et al., 2014) and primary school (Akinwunmi et al., 2017; Praveena et al., 2015). Residential homes (Olujimi et al., 2015; Bi et al., 2015; Tong, 1998) and offices (Jaradat et al., 2004; Iwegbue et al., 2018) were also the focus of the scope of this research. Compared with that of the residential homes, offices showed a higher degree of dustiness and heavy metals (Lisiewicz et al., 2000).
Given the large proportion of time that people spend indoors, the potential health risks posed by heavy metals in the indoor environment deserve greater attention. A global-scale assessment of heavy metal contamination in indoor dust was conducted in this study based on >127 articles published between 1985 and 2019. The pollution levels, spatio-temporal variations, sources, bioaccessibilities, influencing factors, and health risks of heavy metals associated with indoor dust were analyzed. Children's blood lead levels (BLLs) were also estimated using the integrated exposure uptake biokinetic model. The results indicated that the median concentrations of Cu and Zn in 71.9% and 71.0% of the study sites surpassed the corresponding permissible limits, 100 and 300 mg/kg, respectively; thus, their control should be given priority. Heavy metal concentrations in indoor dust from different areas of the world varied greatly, which was closely associated with the type of local human activities, such as mining, melting, e-waste recycling and Pb-related industries. The bioaccessibilities of some key elements, e.g., Pb, Cd, Cu, and Zn, in household dust were high. The levels of heavy metals in indoor dust were mainly affected by a combination of outdoor and indoor sources and related critical factors, and future studies should focus on quantifying the contributions of different sources. Based on the health risk assessment, dust Pb exposure is a major health concern in e-waste recycling areas, which warrants greater attention. 49.8%, 36.8% and 14.4% of study sites showed BLLs exceeding 35 μg/L (threshold limit in Germany), 50 μg/L (threshold limit in the USA), or 100 μg/L (threshold limit in China), respectively. Finally, Pb exposure from indoor dust represents a major contributor to children's blood Pb poisoning in many developing countries. This study details the overall heavy metal contamination status of indoor dust and provides insights for policymakers with respect to pollution prevention measures.
Concentrations, pollution indices and health risk assessment of heavy metals in road dust from two urbanized cities of Pakistan: Comparing two sampling methods for heavy metals concentration
2020, Sustainable Cities and Society
Citation Excerpt :
Major sources of Cd are tire wear, lubricating oil, and diesel fuel. Leakage of fuels and tire friction, in addition to refinery industrial processes adding high level of Cd in urban environment (Jaradat, Momani, Jbarah, & Massadeh, 2004; Men et al., 2018). Based on our results Cd and Pb can be considered priority heavy metals in these cities that need remediation and regular monitoring.
Lahore and Faisalabad are two highly populated metropolitans of Pakistan. The increasing number of vehicles and urbanization resulted in the contamination of urban road dust with heavy metals, which can expose residents to health hazards. The aim of this research was to determine the road dust heavy metal (Cu, Ni, Cd, Pb, and Zn) concentrations, their distribution, comparison, and their potential health risk assessment for local people. Herein, two sampling methods, namely deposit gauge method (DGM) and sweeping tools method (STM), were used to collect road dust samples in eight similar major road intersections. Dust collected by DGM (gravitational pull of air dust) showed higher heavy metals concentration than STM in both cities, which might be associated to the smaller dust particles collected in the DGM. Among sites, concentrations of heavy metals were the highest in dust obtained from the General Bus Stand in both cities. Dominant metals were Zn and Pb with an average concentration of 95.5 and 56.8 mg kg⁻¹, respectively while Cd was the lowest in Lahore. Similarly, the concentration of Pb and Zn were also high in Faisalabad with an average of 90.4 and 49.5 mg kg⁻¹ and Cd was the lowest. Overall, Lahore showed higher pollution levels than Faisalabad. The risk assessment results of the DGM indicated that there were potential carcinogenic health risks associated with Cd, as his values were close or exceeded the permissible limit of 1 × 10⁻⁴. Non-carcinogenic risk assessment results were lower than value 1 for both cities which means there were no non-carcinogenic hazards for the residents. Higher Enrichment ratio (ER) and geo accumulation index (I_geo) showed increasing heavy metal pollution in both cities is a serious concern. Therefore this research provides a vital base and help to authorities for pollution control strategies, remediation, and regular monitoring in order to improve eco-sustainable cities and health of urbanites.
Human exposure and risk associated with trace element concentrations in indoor dust from Australian homes
2019, Environment International
Citation Excerpt :
The risk of inhalation from resuspended As particles of 6.55 × 10−10 is negligible compared to the ingestion and dermal routes of exposure for children. Although the sources of potentially toxic elements in indoor dust are not always known (Chattopadhyay et al., 2003), they are typically derived from a combination indoor and outdoor sources (Abdul-Wahab and Yaghi, 2004; Abdul-Wahab, 2006; Jaradat et al., 2004; Latif et al., 2009). Trace metal concentrations in the smaller size fractions of indoor dust may be more than 3 orders of magnitude compared to those measured in bulk dust (Gulson et al., 1995; Rasmussen et al., 2001; Rasmussen, 2004), posing higher inhalation risks.
This study examines residential indoor dust from 224 homes in Sydney, Australia for trace element concentrations measured using portable X-ray Fluorescence (pXRF) and their potential risk of harm. Samples were collected as part of a citizen science program involving public participation via collection and submission of vacuum dust samples for analysis of their As, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn concentrations. The upper 95% confidence level of the mean values for 224 samples (sieved to <250 μm) were 20.2 mg/kg As, 99.8 mg/kg Cr, 298 mg/kg Cu, 247 mg/kg Mn, 56.7 mg/kg Ni, 364 mg/kg Pb and 2437 mg/kg Zn. The spatial patterns and variations of the metals indicate high homogeneity across Sydney, but with noticeably higher Pb values in the older areas of the city. Potential hazard levels were assessed using United States Environmental Protection Agency's (US EPA) carcinogenic, non-carcinogenic and Integrated Exposure Uptake Biokinetic (IEUBK) model human health risk assessment tools for children and adults. US EPA hazard indexes (HI) for Cr and Pb were higher than the safe level of 1.0 for children. HI > 1 suggests potential non-carcinogenic health effects. Carcinogenic risks were estimated for As, Cr and Pb whose carcinogenic slope factors (CSF) were available. Only the risk factor for Cr exceeded the US EPA's carcinogenic threshold (1 × 10⁻⁴) for children. Children aged 1–2 years had the highest predicted mean child blood lead (PbB) of 4.6 μg/dL, with 19.2% potentially having PbB exceeding 5 μg/dL and 5.80% exceeding 10 μg/dL. The Cr and Pb levels measured in indoor dust therefore pose potentially significant adverse health risks to children.
The exposure of children to PM<inf>2.5</inf> and dust in indoor and outdoor school classrooms in Kuala Lumpur City Centre
2019, Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
It is important to assess indoor air quality in school classrooms where the air quality may significantly influence school children's health and performance. This study aims to determine the concentrations of PM_2.5 and dust chemical compositions in indoor and outdoor school classroom located in Kuala Lumpur City Centre. The PM_2.5 concentration was measured from 19th September 2017–16th February 2018 using an optical PM_2.5 sensor. Indoor and outdoor dust was also collected from the school classrooms and ion and trace metal concentrations were analysed using ion chromatography (IC) and inductively couple plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) respectively. This study showed that the average indoor and outdoor 24 h PM_2.5 was 11.2 ± 0.45 µg m⁻³ and 11.4 ± 0.44 µg m⁻³ respectively. The 8 h PM_2.5 concentration ranged between 3.2 and 28 µg m⁻³ for indoor and 3.2 and 19 µg m⁻³ for outdoor classrooms. The highest ion concentration in indoor dust was Ca²⁺ with an average concentration of 38.5 ± 35.0 µg g⁻¹ while for outdoor dust SO₄^2- recorded the highest ion concentration with an average concentration of 30.6 ± 9.37 µg g⁻¹. Dominant trace metals in both indoor and outdoor dust were Al, Fe and Zn. Principle component analysis-multiple linear regression (PCA-MLR) demonstrated that the major source of indoor dust was road dust (69%), while soil dominated the outdoor dust (74%). Health risk assessment showed that the hazard quotient (HQ) value for non-carcinogenic trace metals was < 1 while the total cancer risk (CR) value for carcinogenic elements was below the acceptable limit for both indoor and outdoor dust through dermal and inhalation pathways, but not the ingestion pathway. This study suggests indoor contributions of PM_2.5 concentrations are due to the activities of the school children while the compositions of indoor and outdoor dust are greatly influenced by the soil/earth source plus industrial and traffic contribution.
Characteristics and health risk assessment of heavy metals exposure via household dust from urban area in Chengdu, China
2018, Science of the Total Environment
Citation Excerpt :
The wall cover may have the more important effects on the concentrations of metals in the household dust (Fig. 2), and the Spearman's correlation analysis showed that Zn-wall cover, Pb -wall cover and Cu -wall cover were significant correlation (p < 0.05) (Table 3). In this study, 75.0% of houses are white latex paint (Fig. 1) which widely use lithopone (66% BaSO4/34% ZnSO4) and lead carbonate (PbCO3) as filler (Jaradat et al., 2004). As well as there are some Zn2 + and Cu2 + in the antibacterial fungicide of latex paint.
To investigate the characteristics of heavy metals (Cr, Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu and Ni) in household dust in urban household environment of Chengdu, China, 90 household dust samples were collected from 6 districts of the city. The information of houses and residents were also recorded during dust sampling to identify the correlations between heavy metals in household dust and the house attributes. And also the principal component analysis and cluster analysis for sources and impactor factors. The concentrations of Pb (123 mg·kg^− 1), Zn (675 mg·kg^− 1), Cu (190 mg·kg^− 1), Cr (82.7 mg·kg^− 1), Cd (2.37 mg·kg^− 1) and Ni (52.6 mg·kg^− 1) in household dust are in low or moderate levels when compare with that from other counties or areas. The heavy metals of household dust samples from Chengdu is higher concentrations than that in the street dust from Chengdu, except for Cr. Statistical analysis result showed traffic sources and corrosion of alloys are important factors contributing to the rise concentrations of heavy metals in household dust. In addition, there is negative correlation (p < 0.05) between the heavy metals concentrations and floor levels. The ingestion is the important pathway for Pb, Zn, Cu and Ni via household dust exposure to the residents, and the dermal contact was identified as a main route for Cr and Cd in household dust exposure to the residents. There are minor non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks from the heavy metals in household dust for the residents in Chengdu.
Enrichment, geo-accumulation and risk surveillance of toxic metals for different environmental compartments from Mehmood Booti dumping site, Lahore city, Pakistan
2016, Chemosphere
The present study was designed to probe the levels of heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Cr, Mn, Cu, Ni, Zn and Fe) for different environmental matrices (ground water, wastewater, sediment, soil, dust and leachates). Impact of solid waste dumping site on nearby human population has also been assessed. The results revealed that concentration of Pb, Fe, Cd, Mn and Cu surpassed the permissible limits of World Health Organization (WHO) and US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) in water, soil, sediments, while aforesaid metals in wastewater were above the National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS). Our results for enrichment factor (EF) and geo-accumulation (I_geo) values revealed that soils and sediments were contaminated with Cd, Pb, Ni and Mn. The Cd content caused a considerably high potential ecological risk ( $E_{r}^{i}$ ≥ 320) in soil and sediments. Pb and Cd caused high health risk (HR > 1) to local residents via dust and drinking water intake. Potential cancer risk for Pb was higher than USEPA standard values (1.0E-06-1.0E-04) through water intake. The Mehmood Booti dumping site is a potential source of toxic pollutants contamination to the surrounding population. It is recommended to take proper actions for its management to resolve this issue.

View all citing articles on Scopus

View full text

Inorganic analysis of dust fall and office dust in an industrial area of Jordan

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Sampling

Heavy metal analysis

Dust fall

Conclusions

Sci. Total Environ.

Environ. Pollut. Ser. B

Environ. Pollut. Ser. B

Sci. Total Environ.

Environ. Int.

Sci. Total Environ.

Atmos. Environ.

Sci. Total Environ.

Atmos. Environ.