Trace metal concentration in urban airborne particulate matter of Kakinada city

The trace metal content in urban airborne particulate matter is gaining importance because of toxicological as well as the increased incidence of lung cancer, cardiovascular diseases and asthma. The elemental levels of urban particulate matter (PM10) due to transport and industrial sources are of concern. The air quality standards are based on PM10 mass concentration of particulates which consist of particulates between 70% to 90% and can remain airborne for 10 days or longer. The long persistence of PM10 particles in environment exhibit free radical activity that can cause DNA damage in vitro and inflammatory response in vivo. In India, most of the cities have large number of industrial clusters intermingling with the residential areas and some of them even have thermal power plants located within or close to the city premises. All factors contribute to be increasing trace metal concentration along with particulate matter. Kakinada city is a port city and one of the important industrial cum business centers connected to other important cities through land and sea. Industries such as fertilizers and petrochemicals together ,. with dense road traffic contributed the Suspended Particulate Matter in ambient air. The aim of the present study is to analyze the concentration of nine trace metals in PM10 particulates namely Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, In, As, Pb, Th and U from a typical urban roadside, industrial and a background residential sites. This allows an assessment of the amount concentration of individual metals in which trace metals are predominantly present. The air samples were collected by using Respirable Dust Sampler seasonally for a period of two years (2008 and 2009) and analysed for trace metals by using ICP-MS