Characterization of Atmospheric Particulate: Relationship between Chemical Composition, Size, and Emission Source

摘要

Physicochemical characterization of particulate matter fractio-nated into eight samples by size from 10 to 0.43 μm was per-formed by HS-SPME/GC-MS for the organic (semi-)volatile compo-nents and SEM X-ray microanalysis (SEM/EDX) for analysis of theelemental composition. The HS-SPME technique was shown to beefficient with respect to requiring an extremely low amount ofmaterial, being selective and clean and avoiding use of any sol-vents. Particulate matter was collected at four sites characterized by particular environmental locations and different pollutionlevels around the city of L'Aquila in central Italy. The resultsreveal a tight correlation between the particle composition, size,and the emission source. The analyses show also that the finerthe particle, the higher its content of elemental carbon and or-ganic compounds. Well-known carcinogens such as PAHs weredetected among the identified organic compounds from both therural and highly polluted sites.