Major Air Pollutants:

Suspended Particulate Matter

Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM)

 

      Maybe the most critical of all air pollutants

      -mixture of solid and liquid particles

          -organic and inorganic

              eg. dust, sand, metals, wood particles, smoke, etc.

      -PM-10 (coarse particulates)

          -particles less than 10 micro-meters (µm) in diameter

      -PM-2.5 (fine particulates)

          -particles less than 2.5 micro-meters (µm) in diameter

Individually, these particles and droplets are invisible to the naked eye. Collectively, however, they can appear as clouds or a fog-like haze(5)

 

      

The Sources

      -fossil-fuel combustion

      -metals and minerals processing

      -dust

      -sand

      -many others

 

 -In a study conducted in 1999, average concentrations of major chemical species observed in the PM10 and PM2.5      

size fractions over 15 days resulted in measurements far above the safe level of 70µg/m3 set  by the WHO. Shobra,      

 

an industrial site, exhibited the highest average PM10 and PM2.5 mass, 265.1µg/m3±13.6 and 216.1µg/m3±11.0 g/m3,      

respectively. These measurements were taken over a 24-hour period(6) .