Exposure to Black Carbon and Deposition on Lungs

ABDULLAH KHAN, Sergej Semcuk, Lina Davulienė, Agnė Minderytė, Mehri Davtalab, Kamilė Kandrotaitė, Julija Pauraite, Inga Garbarienė, Vadimas Dudoitis, Kristina Plauškaitė, Steigvilė Byčenkienė, SRI Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Lithuania

     Abstract Number: 306
     Working Group: Health-Related Aerosols

Abstract
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has identified particulate matter (PM) as a major cause of lung cancer, based on a large body of research. Elevated mass concentrations of PM and black carbon (BC) have been associated with adverse health effects. Particulate matter has been associated with premature death from heart and lung disease, strokes, heart attacks, chronic respiratory diseases including bronchitis, exacerbation of asthma, and other cardio-respiratory symptoms. BC is the main component of PM and is found to be more harmful than PM2.5 (the mass concentration of all particles below 2.5 μm).

Black carbon mass concentration, aerosol particle count concentration and size distribution measurements were performed during 1-31 March, 2022 in an urban background station in Vilnius, Lithuania (capital city of Lithuania with over 600 000 inhabitants). For street-level BC pollution assessment portable micro-Aethalometer (AethLabs model MA200) was used to measure the equivalent BC mass concentration with a time resolution of 30 s and a flow rate of 150 mL/min. BC maps was calculated based on measured concentrations associated with location GPS as a result of data collected along the home-office-home route in and outside car. In our study, BC pollution maps showed a significant increase in BC levels along traffic routes, as expected. Highest contribution of traffic related BC to total BC was recorded during daytime (8:00 AM – 6:00 PM local time). Meanwhile wood burning related BC contributed 34% to total BC mass concentration over the whole measurement campaign with increased contribution during night-time (up to 42% at 4:00 AM local time). The MPPD model was used as a computational tool to calculate the deposition and removal of polydisperse aerosol in the respiratory tract.