Morphological and elemental analysis of fineparticulate matter (PM2.5) at background station in Malaysia

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Date
2016-09-01
Authors
Teh Nur Amalina Mohd Zaki
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Monitoring and sampling of PM2.5 concentrations were held at background station of Malaysia (Jerantut). The aim of this research is to analyze the morphological and elemental compositions of PM2.5 then identifying the sources of PM2.5. Potential sources were identified by site profiling within 10 km radius from the monitoring station. Then statistical analysis and Pearson correlation were conducted using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) program in describing PM2.5 concentration. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy together with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometer (FESEM-EDX) were used to analyze morphological and elemental compositions of each particle and the particles were classified based on the major sources; anthropogenic, natural and biological. The abundant of potential sources came from southeast direction and were classified into three groups; industries, constructions and traffic from Jerantut town. PM2.5 concentration was in the range of 6 μg/m3 to 98 μg/m3 and the average was 33 ± 16 μg/m3which exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. The most abundant particles found in Jerantut were biological particles with 52%, followed by anthropogenic particles (45%) and natural particles (3%). The major elements in anthropogenic particles were Na and Ba, while for natural particles were S and K. One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) together with Duncan’s Multiple Range Test were used for further classification of elements from the anthropogenic particles and the sources identified were industrial, construction and traffic. Therefore, based on the morphological and elemental analysis of PM2.5 in Jerantut, majority of the sources of PM2.5 at the background station came from biological sources, but industrial, constructions, traffic and natural sources also contributed significantly to PM2.5 emissions.
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