Measurements of Airborne Fine Dust and Ultrafine Particles at a Seaport in Southern Italy
VOLKER ZIEGLER, Henrik Hof, Alessandra Genga, Tiziana Siciliano, Michele Gianelli,
Palas GmbH, Karlsruhe, Germany Abstract Number: 24
Working Group: Source Apportionment
AbstractAirborne particles adversely affect human health, depending on their size. With decreasing size of particles deeper penetration of the respiratory tract is observed, and ultrafine particles smaller than 100 nm can pass into the blood vessel. Also, the specific surface area of particles, available for adsorption of potentially harmful substances, increases inversely proportional with diameter. While mass related limits for the PM10 and PM2.5 fine dust fractions are in place, and dust levels are monitored, the potentially more harmful PM1 fraction and the number concentration of nanoparticles are not under regulation today. Optical aerosol spectrometers can provide such data, as well as the number concentration and the size distribution of the aerosol particles, potentially allowing source apportionment in combination with data for other pollutants. We present results of a study carried out at a major seaport in southern Italy, which is expected to be affected by airborne particles emitted by naval engines of commercial and touristic shipping.
Among other instrumentation, a compact single particle counting aerosol spectrometer (AQ Guard Smart 1100, Palas GmbH) was used for analyzing the fine dust fractions between 0.18 and 18 µm size, while a charge diffusion based UFP analyzer (AQ Guard Smart 2000, Palas GmbH) was used to determine the particle number concentration of nanoparticles in the range 10 to 800 nm.
Various sources of emissions could be identified and their influence on the overall level of pollution by airborne particles could be evaluated.
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