Source apportionment of indoor PM2.5 and PM10 in homes

A source apportionment analysis was performed using the elemental species concentrations of the air particulate samples collected in 8 homes from October 1999 to March 2000. It was based on a chemical mass balance approach using the source profiles from five common sources found in Hong Kong homes. These five sources were smoking, cooking, incense burning, human activities and outdoor contribution. Seventeen elements were analysed in the particulate samples collected by proton-induced X-ray emission. The results showed that cooking contributed on average 61.9% of the total indoor PM2.5 in the 8 homes with 31.9% on average contributed from the outdoors. In contrast, the major contributor to the indoor PM10 load was the outdoor contribution, which was 49.3% on average followed by human activities, which totalled 29.9% on average. Copyright (C) 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel.