Elemental characterization of PM10 in UKM campus

Abstract

There is wide acceptance of the hypothesis that links health effects with the presence of atmospheric suspended particles. The goal of this paper was to study the elemental analysis of atmospheric particles in the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) campus. Sampling was performed in one of UKM's students resident areas called college Zaa'ba. Samples were collected as PM10 for 24 h using high-volume air sampler from August 13 to 28, 2009. The obtained concentration of the suspended particles was 438.78 µg/m3. Particles were analyzed by SEM-EDS and then classified by their chemical composition and morphology in order of their abundance. Analysis results showed that there are no heavy metals or chlorinated compounds were found in the air of selected area. The detected elements in the samples were F, Na, Mg, Al, Si, K, Fe, Ca, Ti, and Zn.