CHEMICAL AND STRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION OF AIRBORNE PARTICULATE MATTER IN AN INDUSTRIAL AND AN URBAN AREA IN GREECE

The chemical and structural characterization of airborne particulate matter (APM) is important for the evaluation of possible risk to human health and the identification of pollution sources. In this study, size fractionated particulate matter (PM10/PM2.5) were collected from an industrial and an urban area of Attica, Greece for a period of two years. Ion chromatography was used for the determination of the water soluble ions, while scanning electron microscopy combined with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDX) was applied for image and elemental analysis. Mineralogical investigation was performed by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Infra-Red (IR) spectrometry (FT-IR) using Total Suspended Particulate (TSP) filters collected in the same period and area. The obtained data highlighted the seasonal differences in APM concentration and the proportions of different chemical species in both urban and industrial areas. Qualitative and quantitative measurements were successfully correlated with possible compounds existing in the atmosphere and an assessment of possible emission sources was obtained from a statistical evaluation of the ion chromatographic measurements.