Wintertime haze deterioration in Beijing by industrial pollution deduced from trace metal fingerprints and enhanced health risk by heavy metals.
Airborne particulate matter (PM) was collected in Beijing between 24 February and 12 March 2014 to investigate chemical characteristics and potential industrial sources of aerosols along with health risk of haze events. Results showed secondary inorganic aerosol was the major contributor to PM2.5 during haze days. Utilizing specific elements, including Fe, La, Tl and As, as fingerprinting tracers, four emission sources, namely iron and steel manufacturing, petroleum refining, cement plant, and coal combustion were explicitly identified; their elevated contributions to PM during haze days were also estimated. The average cancer risk from exposure to inhalable PM toxic metals was 1.53 × 10(-4) on haze days, which is one order of magnitude higher than in other developed cities. These findings suggested heavy industries emit large amounts of not only primary PM but also precursor gas pollutants, leading to secondary aerosol formation and harm to human health during haze days.
Research Center for Environmental Changes (RCEC), Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: yclin26@rcec.sinica.edu.tw.
Yu-Chi
YC
Lin
Research Center for Environmental Changes (RCEC), Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
Shih-Chieh
SC
Hsu
Research Center for Environmental Changes (RCEC), Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
Charles C-K
CC
Chou
Key Laboratory of Regional Climate-Environment for Temperate East Asia, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China.
Renjian
R
Zhang
Key Laboratory of Regional Climate-Environment for Temperate East Asia, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China.
Yunfei
Y
Wu
State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
Shuh-Ji
SJ
Kao
State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
Li
L
Luo
Research Center for Environmental Changes (RCEC), Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
Chao-Hao
CH
Huang
Research Center for Environmental Changes (RCEC), Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
Shuen-Hsin
SH
Lin
Research Center for Environmental Changes (RCEC), Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
Yi-Tang
YT
Huang
D000336:Aerosols; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D000068476:Beijing; D003031:Coal; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007221:Industry; D008669:Metallurgy; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced; D000066388:Oil and Gas Industry; D010316:Particle Size; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012621:Seasons; D014504:Urban Health
D000336:Aerosols; D000393:Air Pollutants; D003031:Coal; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D052638:Particulate Matter
Airborne particulate matter; Beijing; Cement plant; Excess cancer risk; Fingerprinting ratio; Iron steel manufacturing; Petroleum refining