title: Determination of water-soluble and insoluble elements in PM2.5 by ICP-MS.
abstract: The elemental composition of water-soluble and acid-soluble fractions of PM2.5 samples from two different Greek cities (Patras and Megalopolis) was investigated. Patras and Megalopolis represent different environments. Specifically, Patras is an urban environment with proximity to a large port, while Megalopolis is a small city located close to lignite power plants. Both cities can serve as a representative example of European cities with similar characteristics. The concentration of 14 elements (As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Fe, Sr, Ti, V and Zn) was determined in each fraction by ICP-MS. Microwave assisted digestion was used to digest the samples using a mixture of HNO3 and HF. For the determination of the water soluble fraction, water was chosen as the simplest and most universal extraction solvent. For the validation of the extraction procedure, the recoveries were tested on two certified reference materials (NIST SRM 1648 Urban Particulate Matter and NIST 1649a Urban Dust). Results showed that Zn has the highest total concentration (273 and 186 ng/m(3)) and Co the lowest (0.48 and 0.23 ng/m(3)) for Patras and Megalopolis samples, respectively. Nickel with 65% for Patras and As with 49% for Megalopolis displayed the highest solubility, whereas Fe (10%) and Ti (2%) the lowest ones, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Patras, 265 00 Rio-Patras, Greece.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Manousakas
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Patras, 265 00 Rio-Patras, Greece. Electronic address: epap@chemistry.upatras.gr.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Papaefthymiou
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nuclear and Radiological Sciences, Energy Technology and Safety, Environmental Radioactivity Laboratory, N.C.S.R. "Demokritos", 15310 Ag. Paraskevi, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Eleftheriadis
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Hydrogeology, Department of Geology, University of Patras, 26500 Rio-Patras, Greece.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Katsanou
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D012995:Solubility; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D052638:Particulate Matter
keywords: Elemental analysis; ICP-MS; PM composition; PM(2.5); Water soluble fraction