Heavy Metals of the Suspended Particulate in Atmosphere of Seoul City / 예방의학회지

ABSTRACT

In order to investigate air pollution by heavy metals in Seoul city, the suspended particulates in the atmosphere were sampled with high volume air sampler in industrial area(Ku Ro Dong), commercial(Kwang Hwa Moon) and residential(Shin Chon Dong) from January to November, 1977. The sampled suspended particulates were digested and extracted from suspended particulates with the acidic solution by reflux-extraction technique, and were measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. And Mercury was measured by mercury analyzer applying the reducing sublimation technique. Among heavy metals analyzed, the iron was identified at th highest level in the suspended particulates and the chromium was the least. Through the surveyed area, the concentration of heavy metals of the industrial area was comparatively high among others and the commercial was the second. It was detected that lead was the most concentrated in the suspended particulate of the commercial area, that might be caused of the traffic emissions. The seasonal variations were analyzed and the correlations among heavy metals and total suspended particulate were also calculated. Especially, the iron was highly correlated with total suspended particulate in all the surveyed areas.