10th International Aerosol Conference September 2 - September 7, 2018 America's Center Convention Complex St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Abstract View
Particulate Matter Concentrations from Urban Settings of Pakistan, China and Europe (UK)
IRFAN ZAINAB, Zulfiqar Ali, Zona Zaidi, Syed Turab Raza, Zaheer Ahmad Nasir, Ian Colbeck, Liu Weilong, University of the Punjab, Lahore, 54590, Pakistan
Abstract Number: 270 Working Group: Aerosol Exposure
Abstract Continental blanket of particulates over cities is disturbing sun energy trapping and grosses to atmosphere. Particulate matter (PM) is also the key component of air pollution that is directly thrown into the air by various natural and anthropogenic sources. Exposure to particulate air pollution has directly been associated to higher morbidity and mortality. Studies show that particulate matter is one of the six criterion pollutants and the most dangerous one accounts for 3.7 million premature deaths annually and nearly 88 percent of these deaths occurs in developing countries. Current investigations reveals indoor and ambient PM levels monitoring in urban settings of the major cities from UK, Pakistan and China. Student accommodations, public transports, and ambient residential settings were selected as study areas. Particulate matter emissions were monitored for twenty-four hours at each site except transport indoors monitoring that was for six hours. Latest DustTrak DRX (Model 8533, TSI Inc.) recently calibrated was used that simultaneously give the values of all fractions like PM1, PM2.5, PM4 Respirable, PM10 and PMTotal. The findings conclude that the respective average values for PMTotal concentrations for Student accommodations in UK (61 µg/m³) was much lower than the rest of monitored countries with overall average, Pakistan concentrations (372µg/m³) was remarkably higher, while China was also found to be significantly polluted with 223µg/m³ of Particulate matter. On the other hand, Public transports were also monitored that showed remarkably higher level of PM concentrations with average PMTotal concentrations of 87 µg/m³ in UK, (372 µg/m³) in Pakistan and 151 µg/m³ in China. These persistent elevated PM concentrations shows the Ambient PM concentration levels have influenced indoor buses and transport facility that is serious health concerns for passengers. The ambient environment of UK, Pakistan and China results were supporting evidence with monitored respective values of PM total were 45 µg/m³ in UK, 121 µg/m³ in Pakistan and 110 µg/m³ in China. Weather and climatic conditions are not similar in these countries that certainly have influenced the fluctuations in the PM concentrations despite of other factors. Therefore, the origin and source of PM is alarming with significantly high figures than the air quality standards suggested by the WHO limits.