Regional-temporal Concentration Variations and Formation of Particulate Mercury in the Air

概要

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Particle-bound mercury (particulate mercury) in the air was collected on quartz fiber filters by high-volume air samplers and Andersen impactors at industrial, urban and rural regions in Niigata Prefecture. Mercury was determined by flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometry with a combustion-gold trapping-heat vaporization technique.<BR>The concentration of particulate mercury showed a large regional variation. Fairly higher values and wider ranged temporal concentration variations were obtained in industrial and urban regions than the rural. In the rural region, the concentration was almost less than 0.05 ng/m<SUP>3</SUP> and was lowest in winter.<BR>From the size-distribution curves of particulate mercury and from the principal component analyses based on the correlations with the other components, it was estimated that there are two types of particulate mercury. One is formed by the adsorption of gaseous mercury released from the heating or combustion processes on the dust that emitted from the same source and it exists as a relatively small particle (less than 2 μm) in the air, the other is formed, mainly in rural regions, by the adsorption of gaseous mercury on the soil particle and it exists as a coarse particle (larger than 2 μm).
社団法人大気環境学会の論文