Heavy Metals, Sources, and Potential Risk Assessment of PM2.5 in the Vicinity of a Lead Smelter in Indonesia

This study aims to characterize the heavy metals in fine particulate matter PM_2.5 in the vicinity of a lead smelter industry in Lamongan, Indonesia. The samples were collected using a dichotomous Gent stacked filter unit sampler. Eighteen elements were identified using energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF) for source identification and potential risk assessment. PM_2.5 concentrations ranged from 7.3 to 30.6 µg/m³ with black carbon attributed to 19% of the mass. Pb was found as the dominant heavy metal, with an average concentration of 0.46 µg/m³, followed by other elements S, K, Fe, and Zn. Pb is attributed to an average of 2.7% of PM_2.5. From principal component analysis (PCA), it was found that the potential sources were associated with lead smelter, biomass burning, road dust, vehicles, metal industry, and shipping emission. The results suggested that the lead smelter and metal industry have a major influence on the study area. The health risk assessment was carried out using the hazard quotient (HQ) and excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR) for Pb, Cr, and Ni. The HQ value and the ELCR value of Pb were found to be slightly higher than the permissible acceptable level. The ELCR value of 1.81 × 10^–6 indicates that approximately two cases of cancer per 1000,000 adult population at Lamongan may occur due to Pb contamination. To minimize the health risks, exposure to heavy metals in PM_2.5 should be avoided as possible and the policy interventions should be implemented to control the lead smelter as major source of Pb pollutants in Lamongan, East Java.