Characteristic, composition, and sources of TSP investigated by HRTEM/EDS and ESEM/EDS

• Published in: Environmental monitoring and assessment Vol. 184; no. 11; pp. 6693 - 6707
• Main Authors: Zhai, Yunbo, Fu, Zongmin, Wang, Lafang, Zeng, Guangming, Li, Caiting, Chen, Hongmei, Lan, Yuanming, Lu, Pei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.11.2012; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aggregates; Air Pollutants - analysis; Air Pollution - statistics & numerical data; Airborne particulates; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Automotive exhaust emissions; Carbon; Coal; Combustion; Dust; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; Ecotoxicology; Electron microscopes; Energy; Environment; Environmental Management; Environmental Monitoring; Environmental scanning; Environmental science; House dust; Indoor air quality; Industrial plant emissions; Investigations; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Morphology; Outdoor air quality; Particle Size; Particulate matter; Particulate Matter - analysis; Pollutants; Rain; Scanning electron microscopy; Sensors; Studies; Vehicle emissions; Wind; China; China, People's Rep; TSP; Micrographic morphology; The sources appointment; Chemical composition; ESEM/EDS; HRTEM/EDS
• ISSN: 0167-6369; 1573-2959
• DOI: 10.1007/s10661-011-2452-5

Total suspended particle (TSP) collected at the fifth floor of House Dust in Hunan University, China, was analyzed in terms of microscopic morphology and chemical composition. The fine particles (50 nm–2 μm) in the TSP were analyzed by a high-resolution transmission electron microscope equipped with an energy-dispersive X-ray analyzer (HRTEM/EDS). Results showed that the particles were in shapes of plate, irregular and agglomerate. Based on EDS results, these fine particulate matter was primarily composed of Fe-rich (35.82–61.29%), Ca-rich (30.18–36.77%) and Si-rich (18.95–32.28%) particles. Other elements mainly including Mg (0.47–4.97%), Al (0.45–14.57%), S (0.45–4.73%), K (1.13–2.13%) and Zn (0.67–3.85%) were also observed. The sources analysis indicated that the HRTEM particles mainly originated from coal combustion, traffic emission, vehicles exhaust emission and fugitive soil or cement particulate matter. The coarse particles (4–50 μm) were detected by environmental scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray detector (ESEM/EDS). Based on a simple algorithm, ESEM particles were categorized into five groups: C-bearing (46.15%, 67% and 86.98%), Si + Ca-bearing (21.48 + 11.80%, 16.51 + 10.81% and 16.32 + 10.62%), Si + Al-bearing (20.06 + 12.40%, 20.16 + 11.22% and 15.31 + 11.25%), Si-bearing (34.40%, 26.92% and 27.15%) particles and aggregates, most of which exhibit obvious crystalline structure, and these ESEM particles mainly derived from vehicles exhaust emission, coal combustion, soil, and biomass burning, while the aggregates are indicative of atmospheric reaction progress. HRTEM/EDS and ESEM/EDS are mutual complementary in analyzing the characteristic and determining the sources of TSP.