Chemical Distribution of Particulate-Bound Heavy Metals and Its Impact on Health Risk Assessment

A special issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304). This special issue belongs to the section "Exposome Analysis and Risk Assessment".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 July 2022) | Viewed by 7391

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Guest Editor
Department of Environmental Chemistry and Engineering, Kazimierz Pulaski University of Technology and Humanities in Radom, Radom, Poland
Interests: heavy metals chemistry; environmental analysis; speciation; chemical fractionation; ecological risk; human health risk

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Heavy metals are a group of important environmental pollutants. Particles enriched with heavy metals originate from both natural and anthropogenic sources (mainly industrial plants, power industry, heating in residential sectors, and road transport). High toxicity, environmental stability, non-degradability, and their susceptibility to bioaccumulation are the origins of unwavering interest in environmental pollution with heavy metals. The Scopus database has registered over 700 articles with the terms “chemical fractionation” AND “heavy metals” AND “soil” in titles, abstracts or keywords, and over 100 articles with “chemical fractionation” AND “heavy metals” AND “particulate matter”. There has also been a change in the approach to human health risk assessment. Increasingly, the dose of heavy metals received is determined on the basis of chemical fractionation results.

This Special Issue intends to present the current research on chemical fractionation and operational speciation of particulate-bound heavy metals, and the possibility of using the results of these studies for human health risk assessment. Authors are kindly invited to submit original research papers, reviews, and short communications.

Prof. Dr. Ryszard Świetlik
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • heavy metals
  • speciation
  • chemical fractionation
  • sequential extraction
  • health risk assessment
  • particulate matter
  • road dust
  • street dust
  • soil

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 2311 KiB  
Article
Insights into Elemental Composition and Sources of Fine and Coarse Particulate Matter in Dense Traffic Areas in Toronto and Vancouver, Canada
by Valbona Celo, Mahmoud M. Yassine and Ewa Dabek-Zlotorzynska
Toxics 2021, 9(10), 264; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics9100264 - 14 Oct 2021
Cited by 33 | Viewed by 2936
Abstract
Traffic is a significant pollution source in cities and has caused various health and environmental concerns worldwide. Therefore, an improved understanding of traffic impacts on particle concentrations and their components could help mitigate air pollution. In this study, the characteristics and sources of [...] Read more.
Traffic is a significant pollution source in cities and has caused various health and environmental concerns worldwide. Therefore, an improved understanding of traffic impacts on particle concentrations and their components could help mitigate air pollution. In this study, the characteristics and sources of trace elements in PM2.5 (fine), and PM10-2.5 (coarse), were investigated in dense traffic areas in Toronto and Vancouver, Canada, from 2015–2017. At nearby urban background sites, 24-h integrated PM samples were also concurrently collected. The PM2.5 and PM10-2.5 masses, and a number of elements (i.e., Fe, Ba, Cu, Sb, Zn, Cr), showed clear increases at each near-road site, related to the traffic emissions resulting from resuspension and/or abrasion sources. The trace elements showed a clear partitioning trend between PM2.5 and PM10-2.5, thus reflecting the origin of some of these elements. The application of positive matrix factorization (PMF) to the combined fine and coarse metal data (86 total), with 24 observations at each site, was used to determine the contribution of different sources to the total metal concentrations in fine and coarse PM. Four major sources were identified by the PMF model, including two traffic non-exhaust (crustal/road dust, brake/tire wear) sources, along with regional and local industrial sources. Source apportionment indicated that the resuspended crustal/road dust factor was the dominant contributor to the total coarse-bound trace element (i.e., Fe, Ti, Ba, Cu, Zn, Sb, Cr) concentrations produced by vehicular exhaust and non-exhaust traffic-related processes that have been deposited onto the surface. The second non-exhaust factor related to brake/tire wear abrasion accounted for a considerable portion of the fine and coarse elemental (i.e., Ba, Fe, Cu, Zn, Sb) mass at both near-road sites. Regional and local industry contributed mostly to the fine elemental (i.e., S, As, Se, Cd, Pb) concentrations. Overall, the results show that non-exhaust traffic-related processes were major contributors to the various redox-active metal species (i.e., Fe, Cu) in both PM fractions. In addition, a substantial proportion of these metals in PM2.5 was water-soluble, which is an important contributor to the formation of reactive oxygen species and, thus, may lead to oxidative damage to cells in the human body. It appears that controlling traffic non-exhaust-related metals emissions, in the absence of significant point sources in the area, could have a pronounced effect on the redox activity of PM, with broad implications for the protection of public health. Full article
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Review

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29 pages, 1487 KiB  
Review
Chemical Fractionation in Environmental Studies of Potentially Toxic Particulate-Bound Elements in Urban Air: A Critical Review
by Ryszard Świetlik and Marzena Trojanowska
Toxics 2022, 10(3), 124; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics10030124 - 4 Mar 2022
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 3402
Abstract
In recent years, studies of heavy metal air pollution have increasingly gone beyond determining total concentrations of individual toxic metals. Chemical fractionation of potentially toxic elements in airborne particles is becoming an important part of these studies. This review covers the articles that [...] Read more.
In recent years, studies of heavy metal air pollution have increasingly gone beyond determining total concentrations of individual toxic metals. Chemical fractionation of potentially toxic elements in airborne particles is becoming an important part of these studies. This review covers the articles that have been published over the last three decades. Attention was paid to the issue of atmospheric aerosol sampling, sample pretreatment, sequential extraction schemes and conditions of individual extractions. Geochemical forms of metals occurring in the air in urban areas were considered in detail. Based on the data sets from chemical fractionation of particulate matter samples by three sequential extraction procedures (SEPs)—Fernández Espinosa, BCR and Chester’s—the compilation of the chemical distribution patterns of As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn was prepared. The human health risk posed by these toxic and/or carcinogenic elements via inhalation of atmospheric particles was estimated for two categories of polluted urban areas: the commonly encountered pollution level and the high pollution level. Full article
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