ABSTRACT
This study investigates the PM2.5 bound metals using yearlong measurements at a regionally representative suburban site in the Northwest Indo-Gangetic Plain (NWIGP). The order of the measured annual average concentrations of PM2.5 bound metals is Fe > Zn > Ba > Sn > Pb > Cd > Ni > Mn > Cr > Li. Lithium bound to airborne PM2.5 has been reported for the first time in NWIGP. Ni (72.4 ng m−3) and Cd (36.9 ng m−3) have exceeded the acceptable limits set by NAAQS, India. Estimated the hazard quotient (HQ > 1) of Mn and hazard index (HI > 1) of measured metals exceeded the threshold limits indicating the potential non-carcinogenic health risk due to inhalation exposure of PM2.5 bound trace metals. Further, excessive lifetime cancer risk due to inhalation exposure to Cd, Ni and Cr was estimated and found to exceed the threshold limit set by the USEPA for adults and children.
Acknowledgements
Authors dedicate this work to Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Founder Chancellor, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning. The authors are thankful to the administration of Central Research Instruments Facility – Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning for providing state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation facilities to carry out this research work.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Author contribution
Durga Prasad Patnana: Data curation, Software, Writing – original draft preparation.
B.P. Chandra: Conceptualization, Visualization, Investigation, Supervision, Reviewing and Editing.
Supplementary material
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09603123.2024.2353328