5085
Asmaa Magdy Ahmed Mohamed Abozied
Assessment of Inorganic Air Pollutants in Greater Cairo's Atmosphere Using Fluorescence Spectroscopy Techniques
Fluorescence spectroscopy techniques, Synchrotron light, Air pollution, Greater Cairo, Particulate Matter PM2.5, Fractionated atmospheric aerosol, Sources of air pollution.
This work evaluates the trace element composition of atmospheric aerosol particles (PM2.5) and fractionated atmospheric aerosol in ten diameter ranges (>16μm, 16-8 μm, 8-4 μm, 4-2 μm, 2-1 μm, 1-0.5 μm, 0.5-0.25 μm, 0.25-0.12 μm, 0.12-0.06 μm, <0.06 μm) in Greater Cairo, Egypt. PM2.5 particles were collected from two different sites, urban (Dokki) and industrial (Shobra El-Kheima) in Greater Cairo using Cyclone PM2.5, while fractionated atmospheric aerosol were collected from urban site (Dokki) using Cascade Impactor in the period from September 2010 to May 2011. Aerosol samples were collected on polycarbonate filters. The total mass concentrations of PM2.5 measured in that period were 50.28 ± 38.49 μg/m3 and 97.57± 64.81 μg/m3 for the urban and industrial sites, respectively. The mean PM2.5 mass concentrations in two sampling sites are higher than values of World Health Organization (WHO) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). Fluorescence spectroscopy techniques have been used for qualitative andquantitative analysis of aerosol samples. Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrometer with a Mo secondary target (EDXRF) was used to analyze the PM2.5 samples because of the relative simplicity of the technique for filter analysis. Quantitative X-ray Analysis System (QXAS/AXIL) software package was used, for the determination of the net peak areas ofcharacteristic lines of interest. Synchrotron radiation micro X-ray fluorescence (SR μ-XRF) was used for the elemental analyses of the collected fractionated aerosol. It is a powerful spectroscopy technique, nondestructive and samples can usually be analyzed without pretreatment as well as the high sensitivity of the set-up in means of minimum detection limits. PyMca software package has been used; it has been developed by the Software Group of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF). PyMCA software implements most of the needs of X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. Using ROI (Region of Interest) imaging tool in PyMca software can be started as an independent application. This application allowed making an elemental map for each size of collected aerosol.
2015
M.Sc
Helwan
Science