Elemental Quantification and Source Identification of Airborne Particulate Matter in Pathumwan District

Airborne particulate matter (APM) is apparently the biggest air pollution problem found in capital and other big cities. APM has the adverse impact on human health and also on the environment. PM10 (particle with aerodynamic diameter le ss than 10 μm), in particularly, can cause the respiratory diseases since it can penetrate the respiratory system. Furthermore, PM25 (particle with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm) is the major cause of visibility impairment. This paper reports the study of urban air pollution at Pathumwan District, a business area in Bangkok City center. Coarse and fine fractions of PM10 (P M-2.2-10 and PM2.2, respectively) were collected by a Gent stacked filter unit air sampler during January-December 2002. The filter samples were measured for mass and black carbon. Elemental concentrations were analyzed by instrumental neutron activation analysis. The results indicate the rather high level of PM10 at the sampling site. The annual average of PM10 is 56.6 μg/m3 compared to the ambient air quality standard of 50 μg/m3. The obtained data of black carbon and elemental concentrations were used for investigation of pollution sources by applying a receptor model called Positive Matrix Factorization. It could identify that the main sources were most likely city dust, emissions from vehicle combustion, incineration and sea-salt