10th International Aerosol Conference September 2 - September 7, 2018 America's Center Convention Complex St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Abstract View
Seasonal Concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 in Borovoye, Kazakhstan Using Low-Cost and Well-Reference PM Monitors
MEHDI AMOUEI TORKMAHALLEH, Aigerim Jaxybayeva, Soudabeh Gorjinezhad, Chemical and Aerosol Research Team, Nazarbayev University
Abstract Number: 1707 Working Group: Remote/Regional Atmospheric Aerosol
Abstract Kazakhstan is the first energy consumer and contributor to various fossil-fuel emissions in Central Asia. In 2014 the highest per capita household coal consumption occurred in Poland, followed by Kazakhstan. Coal combustion produces considerable amount of PM which will be responsible for acute and chronic health effects. A recent study estimated annually a minimum of 7500 premature deaths in Kazakhstan due to exposure to PM. Estimating the PM concentrations and the related health impact requires a proper sampling network. The analysis done by World Bank revealed that air quality monitoring network in Kazakhstan has many features that are out of date, and in many cases experiences unrepresentative sampling. The number of monitoring sites are low, and the selection of monitored pollutants does not comply with recognised priority pollutants. Thus, there is a crucial need for the establishment of a proper air pollution monitoring network in Kazakhstan. This study aims to investigate the summer and winter PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations in a rural area (Boroovye), 258 km north of the capital city, Astana in Kazakhstan. Two low cost monitors including Dylos and Speck has been utilized together with Dusttrak DRX, TSI. The low cost PM and the Duttrak DRX recorded the PM concentrations every minute and every thirty seconds, respectively. The summer sampling was conducted during July 2017 and the winter sampling will be performed during February 2018. The average PM2.5 concentration during the July 2017 was found to be 24.8µg/m3 which is below the EPA PM2.5 standard (35µg/m3). However, in many observations the PM2.5 concentration exceeded the EPA limit. The average PM10 concentration (26.4µg/m3) was far below the EPA standard (150µg/m3). PM1 was found to be the dominant size fraction during the summer measurements. The elevated PM2.5 concentration in such a rural area during summer could be due to the transport of the fine particles from more developed cities such as Astana to this region. This project is very much relevant to the Kazakhstan 2050 Strategy where environmental monitoring will be a requirement to protect public health. The outcome of this study will be critical to policy makers to plan for the future climate of Kazakhstan.