Malaysian Journal of Analytical Sciences Vol 22 No 3 (2018): 508 - 513

DOI: 10.17576/mjas-2018-2203-19

 

 

 

VARIATION OF PM10  AND HEAVY METALS CONCENTRATION OF SUB-URBAN AREA CAUSED BY HAZE EPISODE

 

(Variasi PM10 dan Kepekatan Logam Berat di Kawasan Separa-Bandar disebabkan oleh Episod Jerebu)

 

Mohd Zahari Abdullah* and Nurul Afirah Alias

 

Faculty of Applied Sciences,

Universiti Teknologi MARA Pahang, 26400 Bandar Tun Abdul Razak Jengka, Pahang, Malaysia

 

*Corresponding author:  umizah@pahang.uitm.edu.my

 

 

Received: 4 December 2016; Accepted: 1 December 2017

 

 

Abstract

A severe haze episode has swept across Malaysia in late June until October 2015 and has caused sharp rises of Air Pollution Index (API) across the country. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of haze event on the API sub-indices during 10 days of the sampling period. The air particulate samples (PM10) were collected at an open site in UiTM Jengka, Pahang by using high volume air sampler (HVAS). The standard acid digestion method was applied to dissolve the sample and the concentrations of heavy metals were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma – optical emission spectrometry (ICP–OES). The API sub-indices were calculated based on the standard method applied by Department of Environment (DOE) Malaysia. The results showed significant differences in PM10 mass between haze and non-haze days, which were ranged between 28.4 µg/m3 to 132.9 µg/m3 and 17.3 µg/m3 to 34.7 µg/m3 for the respective two sampling intervals, haze and non-haze days. The mass concentrations of the studied metals did not show any significant different between the two intervals which indicates other constituent of particulate has contributed to the different weight of PM10. The highest API sub-indices during haze days was recorded as 89 which is classified as moderate level of air pollution. The overall results clearly showed that haze event has increased the PM10 mass of the surrounding air but not the concentration of heavy metals.

 

Keywords:  API sub-indices, haze episode, high volume air sampler, particulate matter less than 10 µm

 

Abstrak

Episod jerebu yang teruk telah melanda Malaysia pada akhir bulan Jun hingga Oktober 2015 dan telah menyebabkan peningkatan mendadak Indeks Pencemaran Udara (API) di seluruh negara. Kajian ini dijalankan untuk menilai kesan daripada peristiwa jerebu kepada nilai sub-indeks API sepanjang 10 hari tempoh pensampelan. Sampel udara (PM10) telah dikumpulkan di kawasan terbuka di UiTM Jengka, Pahang dengan menggunakan alat pensampel udara isipadu tinggi (HVAS). Kaedah pencernaan asid telah digunakan untuk melarutkan sampel dan kepekatan logam berat telah dianalisis menggunakan spektrometer pancaran optik plasma gandingan aruhan (ICP–OES). Sub-indeks API dikira berdasarkan kaedah piawai yang digunakan oleh Jabatan Alam Sekitar (JAS) Malaysia. Hasil kajian menunjukkan perbezaan yang signifikan bagi jisim PM10 antara hari berjerebu dan bukan jerebu, yang direkodkan antara 28.4 μg/m3 hingga 132.9 μg/m3 dan 17.3 μg/m3 kepada 34.7 μg/m3 bagi masing-dua selang pensampelan, hari jerebu dan hari tidak jerebu. Kepekatan jisim logam yang dikaji tidak menunjukkan sebarang perbezaan yang signifikan antara kedua-dua selang yang menunjukkan konstituen lain zarah telah menyumbang kepada berat PM10. Sub-indeks API paling tinggi semasa hari jerebu telah direkodkan sebagai 89 yang diklasifikasikan sebagai pencemaran udara tahap sederhana. Keputusan keseluruhan jelas menunjukkan bahawa peristiwa jerebu telah meningkatkan jisim PM10 di udara sekitaran tetapi tidak bagi kepekatan logam berat.

 

Kata kunci:    sub-indeks API, episod jerebu, alat pensampel udara isipadu tinggi, jirim partikel kurang daripada 10 µm

 

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