Respirable particulate matter monitoring using non-destructive elemental analysis

Live webinar 06th July 2022

Atmospheric aerosols or particulate matter suspended in air is a very important parameter for air quality monitoring. Respirable particulate matter (RSPM), known as PM2.5 and PM10, is especially damaging to human health and the environment in general. Air Particulate matter comprises of natural particulate matter like crustal dust with signature elements like Al, Si, Fe, Ca; sea spray aerosols having Na, Mg, Cl, S, K, Ca; etc. Besides there are anthropogenic sources of emission, for instance, traffic, industries, waste incineration and more which emit toxic elements like Pb, Zn, As, Br, V, Cr, Ni, Cd, etc. into the air.

As the effect of toxic elements and their levels in RSPM on public health and the environment become increasingly understood, governments and authorities have been implementing tougher restrictions against particulate air pollution.

To effectively uphold these restrictions, authorities need to accurately monitor air quality and take punitive actions through the identification of the sources of emission. This means being able to accurately gauge elemental concentrations in the RSPM within a certain area in compliance with the strict regulatory norms like US-EPA IO 3.3.

During this air pollution webinar, our application specialist, Dr. Gupta, sheds light on the regulations and the methodologies for low limits of detection. He shares knowledge on proper sampling, collection of air filters as well as other practical concerns like the selection of filter matrices. He will also discuss how to perform non-destructive analysis of the toxic elements using Malvern Panalytical's Epsilon 4 solution. This powerful benchtop XRF spectrometer comes calibrated for air filter testing on 46 elements. This is with a strong intention of helping service laboratories and governmental agencies to check compliance with strict regulations as well as use it as an effective tool for making emission inventory and source apportionment.

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