Indoor/Outdoor of PM10 Relationships and its Water- Soluble Ions Composition in Selected Primary Schools in Malaysia

摘要

Measurements of PM_(10) and water-soluble ions were carried out on indoor and outdoor PM_(10) (particles < 10 μm in aerodynamic diameter) aerosols sampled at selected primary schools of Kuala Lumpur (S1) and Putrajaya (S2), respectively. Samples were collected using a low volume sampler on Teflon filters. The water-soluble ions chloride (Cl~-), nitrate (NO_3~-), sulfate (SO_4~(2-)), calcium (Ca~(2?)), magnesium (Mg~(2?)), sodium (Na~?), potassium (K~?) and ammonium (NH??) was analyzed using ion chromatography. The results showed that the indoor PM?? mass concentrations in S1 and S2 were96.6 and 69.5 μg/m3, while the outdoor PM?? mass concentrations were 80.1 and 85.2 μg/m3, respectively. This indicated that NO_3~- were the most dominant ions, followed by SO_?~(2-), Ca~(2?), K~? and Na~?, while Cl-, Mg2? and Na? were present at low concentrations. Pearson’s correlation test applied to all the data showed high correlation between SO_?~2~ˉ and NO_?~ˉ, indicating a common anthropogenic origin. In addition, the correlations between Na~? and Ca~(2?) indicated crustal origins that significantly contributed to human exposure.