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The Science of the Total Environment Jun 2022This study compares select dust sampling apparatuses and monitoring methods by investigating fugitive tailings dust transport and deposition at an abandoned Zn-Pb-Cu...
This study compares select dust sampling apparatuses and monitoring methods by investigating fugitive tailings dust transport and deposition at an abandoned Zn-Pb-Cu mine located in eastern, Canada. The sampling apparatuses and monitoring methods are compared in terms of capturing seasonal trends and spatial extent, as well as the ability to evaluate impacts to aquatic ecosystems. Methods evaluated include satellite imagery, lichen tissue analysis, passive dry deposition collectors (Pas-DDs) with two different configurations, dust deposition gauges (DDGs) and a high volume total suspended particulate (Hi-Vol TSP) sampler. All methods utilized demonstrated benefits and challenges in relation to seasonal sampling and determining spatial extent of dust deposition. Results indicate that the polyurethane foam disk configuration of the Pas-DD sampler efficiently accumulates dust in comparison to the glass fiber filter configuration and DDGs which both likely underestimate dust deposition. Lichen and satellite imagery were shown to be effective tools for identifying areas of interest and extent of contamination. At the study site, it was observed that dust deposition was highest in the winter months and lowest in the summer months, likely due to increased erosion in winter weather conditions (higher wind speeds and/or freeze drying effect).
Topics: Air Pollutants; Dust; Ecosystem; Environmental Monitoring; Wind
PubMed: 35090929
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153409 -
Environmental Science and Pollution... Aug 2021Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are used in a wide range of products and have been found ubiquitously in our indoor environment, and there is evidence that...
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are used in a wide range of products and have been found ubiquitously in our indoor environment, and there is evidence that exposure to PFAS can lead to adverse endocrine effects, such as thyroid hormone disruption. Pet cats have a high dust intake due to their grooming behavior and have been shown to be a suitable sentinel species for assessment of toddler's exposure. Here we used paired household dust (n=46) and cat serum (n=27) samples to establish whether dust is a relevant exposure pathway to PFASs. An analytical method for PFAS analysis was optimized using a low volume of cat serum samples, combining solid-phase extraction and online sample cleanup. Dust was extracted with methanol by sonication and cleaned up by addition of active carbon. In total, 27 PFASs were analyzed by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis. The correlation between PFAS levels in dust and serum, serum lipids and thyroid hormone levels, and PFAS levels in dust between different rooms were statistically evaluated. PFOS and PFDA could be quantified in all cat serum samples (median 2300 pg/mL and 430 pg/mL, respectively), followed by PFOA (median 1100 pg/mL), quantified in 96% of the samples. The levels of 6:2 and 8:2 diPAPs were determined in 65% and 92% of the serum samples, respectively, and were an order of magnitude lower (1.4-160 pg/mL). Household dust on the other hand was dominated by 6:2 and 8:2 diPAPs, with a median of 65 ng/g dust and 49 ng/g dust, respectively. PFOS (median 13 ng/g dust) and PFOA (median 9 ng/g dust) were quantified in 93% of the dust samples. Only eight PFASs were detected (>LOD) in at least 50% of the samples of both matrices and could be paired. Significant correlations between cat serum and dust were found for PFOA (r=0.32, p<0.049) and PFUnDA (r=0.55, p<0.001). Significant positive correlations were found between serum total thyroxine (r=0.11, p<0.05) and PFNA and between serum cholesterol and PFHpA (r=0.46, p<0.01), PFUnDA (r=0.40, p<0.05), PFDoDA (r=0.44, p<0.01), and sum PFAS (r=0.48, p<0.01). In conclusion, this study confirmed that dust is a relevant exposure pathway for the ingestion of some PFASs for cats, and the serum levels of PFASs could be of relevance for the cat's health.
Topics: Alkanesulfonic Acids; Animals; Chromatography, Liquid; Dust; Environmental Pollutants; Fluorocarbons; Sweden
PubMed: 33745045
DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-13343-5 -
Environmental Science and Pollution... Jun 2022The aim of this work is study of physical and chemical properties of dust of the Pre-Aral region of Uzbekistan such as Karakalpakstan and Khorezm that are located near...
The aim of this work is study of physical and chemical properties of dust of the Pre-Aral region of Uzbekistan such as Karakalpakstan and Khorezm that are located near the three deserts such as the Aralkum, Karakum, and Kyzylkum. The dust particles fell on glass have been collected in Karakalpakstan and Khorezm and studied systematically by employing wide range of methods. Particle volume vs size distribution has been measured with maximum around 600 nm and ~ 10 µm. The major and minor constituent materials present in the dust have been studied systematically by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray diffraction, and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy. Main characteristic absorption bands corresponding to Si-O, Si-O-Si bonding in quartz and Fe-O bonds in hematite FeO have been identified by infrared and Raman spectroscopy. Quartz, hematite, lime, corundum, magnesia, and several other trace minerals have been identified in the dust particles. X-ray diffraction peaks corresponding to quartz, hematite, and corundum are sharp and are found to be more crystalline with some level of disorder. Analysis of the particle size and crystallinity on human being has been performed: disordered or crystalline quartz can create the lung disease; the particles in the size of 0.5-0.7 µm may produce diseases such as chronic silicosis, silicosis, and silica tuberculosis whereas hematite might create lung disease. Dust particles worsen optical transmittance of glass of the panels.
Topics: Aluminum Oxide; Dust; Humans; Particle Size; Quartz; Silicosis; Uzbekistan
PubMed: 35084677
DOI: 10.1007/s11356-022-18827-6 -
Environmental Science and Pollution... Jan 2023This research is concerned with performing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to investigate the air flow and dust deposition behavior around a...
This research is concerned with performing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to investigate the air flow and dust deposition behavior around a ground-mounted solar PV panel. The discrete phase model (DPM) is adopted to model the gas-solid flow. The influence of the wind speed, the dust particle size, and the dust material on the dust deposition rate was investigated based on the environment of Cairo, Egypt. The wind speeds range between 1 and 11.5 m/s with an average of 3.7 m/s. It is found that increasing the wind speed decreases the dust deposition rate. For wind speeds higher than 2 m/s, it is found that increasing the dust particle diameter or the dust density increases the dust deposition rate. For wind speeds lower than 2 m/s, it is found that there is a critical particle size before which increasing the dust density causes dust deposition rate to increase and after which increasing the dust density decreases the dust deposition. The maximum percentage of deposition rate equals 10.8% and occurs for the dolomite dust material at a wind speed of 2 m/s and particles diameter of 150 μm.
Topics: Dust; Environmental Monitoring; Particle Size; Wind; Hydrodynamics
PubMed: 36109484
DOI: 10.1007/s11356-022-22993-y -
PloS One 2023The problem of dust pollution in the open-pit coal mine significantly impacts the health of staff, the regular operation of mining work, and the surrounding environment....
The problem of dust pollution in the open-pit coal mine significantly impacts the health of staff, the regular operation of mining work, and the surrounding environment. At the same time, the open-pit road is the largest dust source. Therefore, it analyzes the influencing factors of road dust concentration in the open-pit coal mine. It is of practical significance to establish a prediction model for scientific and effective prediction of road dust concentration in the open pit coal mine. The prediction model helps reduce dust hazards. This paper uses the hourly air quality and meteorological data of an open-pit coal mine in Tongliao City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2021. Create a CNN-BiLSTM-Attention multivariate hybrid model consisting of a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), a bidirectional long short-term memory neural network (BiLSTM), and an attention mechanism, Prediction of PM2.5 concentration in the next 24h. Establish prediction models of parallel and serial structures, and carry out many experiments according to the change period of the data to determine the optimal configuration and the input and output size. Then, a comparison of the proposed model and Lasso regression, SVR, XGBoost, LSTM, BiLSTM, CNN-LSTM, and CNN-BiLSTM models for short-term prediction (24h) and long-term prediction (48h, 72h, 96h, and 120h). The results show that the CNN-BiLSTM-Attention multivariate mixed model proposed in this paper has the best prediction performance. The mean absolute error (MAE), root mean square error (RMSE), and coefficient of determination (R2) of the short-term forecast (24h) are 6.957, 8.985, and 0.914, respectively. Evaluation indicators of long-term forecasts (48h, 72h, 96h, and 120h) are also superior to contrast models. Finally, we used field-measured data to verify, and the obtained evaluation indexes MAE, RMSE, and R2 are 3.127, 3.989, and 0.951, respectively. The model-fitting effect was good.
Topics: Humans; Dust; Environmental Monitoring; Air Pollution; Mining; Coal
PubMed: 37099504
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0284815 -
Environmental Science and Pollution... Nov 2022The biological agents are carried from deserts and dried lands to long distances by high dust volumes. Their adverse effects can be reduced by specifying and controlling...
The biological agents are carried from deserts and dried lands to long distances by high dust volumes. Their adverse effects can be reduced by specifying and controlling dust sources and their related biological agents. Thus, the current work examined the relationship between the bacteria in air and soil samples by taking samples from the soil surface of two dust sources, as well as from air samples during spring from Khorramshahr and Abadan cities. The dust event is the most influential factor on airborne bacteria. There is an insignificant negative (-0.06), insignificant positive (0.14), and weak positive (0.24) correlation between airborne bacteria and UV radiation, relative humidity, and temperature, respectively. After preparing a 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) clone library from the soil and air samples, operational taxonomic unit picking and taxonomic assignment were conducted using QIIME Virtual Box. In the present work, Bacillus was the dominant species. The relationship between dust sources and air samples was determined by principal component analysis. Bacteria in the Hoor-Al-Azim dust source and airborne bacteria on dusty and non-dusty days showed a more significant correlation compared to bacteria in the Shadegan dust source. Source Tracker software was used to estimate the contribution of dust sources. The primary source of dust was associated with the dried areas of Hoor-Al-Azim on the non-dusty and dusty days. Finally, the long transport of airborne bacteria was assessed by moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the back trajectory model of Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) data. The research findings can help decision-makers prioritize dust sources to control the adverse effects of dust.
Topics: Dust; Iran; Environmental Monitoring; Bacteria; Soil; DNA, Ribosomal; Biological Factors; Air Pollutants
PubMed: 35748994
DOI: 10.1007/s11356-022-21563-6 -
Environment International Sep 2019We review the major features of desert dust outbreaks that are relevant to the assessment of dust impacts upon human health. Our ultimate goal is to provide scientific... (Review)
Review
We review the major features of desert dust outbreaks that are relevant to the assessment of dust impacts upon human health. Our ultimate goal is to provide scientific guidance for the acquisition of relevant population exposure information for epidemiological studies tackling the short and long term health effects of desert dust. We first describe the source regions and the typical levels of dust particles in regions close and far away from the source areas, along with their size, composition, and bio-aerosol load. We then describe the processes by which dust may become mixed with anthropogenic particulate matter (PM) and/or alter its load in receptor areas. Short term health effects are found during desert dust episodes in different regions of the world, but in a number of cases the results differ when it comes to associate the effects to the bulk PM, the desert dust-PM, or non-desert dust-PM. These differences are likely due to the different monitoring strategies applied in the epidemiological studies, and to the differences on atmospheric and emission (natural and anthropogenic) patterns of desert dust around the world. We finally propose methods to allow the discrimination of health effects by PM fraction during dust outbreaks, and a strategy to implement desert dust alert and monitoring systems for health studies and air quality management.
Topics: Aerosols; Air Movements; Air Pollutants; Air Pollution; Dust; Environmental Monitoring
PubMed: 31207476
DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2019.05.061 -
Chemosphere Apr 2022Dust storms are common events in arid and semi-arid regions that have a wide range of impacts on the environment and human health. This study addresses the presence,...
Dust storms are common events in arid and semi-arid regions that have a wide range of impacts on the environment and human health. This study addresses the presence, characteristics and potential sources of microplastics (MPs) in such events by analysing MPs deposited with dust particles in the metropolis of Shiraz, southwest Iran, following an intense storm in May 2018. At 22 locations throughout the city, MP concentrations on a number basis ranged from 0.04 to 1.06 per g of dust (median = 0.31 MP g). Particles were mainly fibrous, with a mean diameter of about 20 μm and >60% under 100 μm in length, and polymer makeup was dominated by nylon, polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate. Examination of selected MPs by scanning electron microscopy revealed varying degrees of weathering and contamination by extraneous geogenic particles amongst the samples. Using published MP concentrations in urban dusts and remote, arid soils, we estimate that between about 0.1 and 5% of MPs deposited by the dust storm are derived from local sources within the metropolis, with the remainder arising from more distant sources. HYSPLIT modelling, satellite imagery and published geochemical signatures of regional dust particles suggest that the deserts of Saudi Arabia constitute the principal distal and transboundary source. Dust storms may represent a significant means by which MPs are transported and redistributed in arid and semi-arid environments and an important source of MPs to the oceans.
Topics: Cities; Dust; Environmental Monitoring; Humans; Microplastics; Plastics
PubMed: 34973256
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.133456 -
Environmental Science & Technology Sep 2022A semiquantitative high-resolution mass spectrometry method was developed and applied to assess the occurrence of bromo-/chloro paraffins (BCPs) and olefins (BCOs) in...
A semiquantitative high-resolution mass spectrometry method was developed and applied to assess the occurrence of bromo-/chloro paraffins (BCPs) and olefins (BCOs) in the environment. More than 400 possible BCPs and BCO congener groups were detected in dust, air, and sewage sludge samples collected from Australia. Median chain analytes with the number of halogen atoms <7 (CHClBr, 14 ≤ ≤ 17, + < 7) prevailed in the dust and sludge samples, while short chain analytes (CHClBr, 10 ≤ ≤ 13, + < 7) predominated the air samples. The estimated concentrations of ∑BCPs and ∑BCOs in dust and sludge were approximately 20% that of the chlorinated paraffins (CPs) present, with the median concentrations of 5.4 μg/g (dust) and 0.18 μg/g (sludge) for ∑BCPs and 22 μg/g (in dust) and 0.50 μg/g (sludge) for BCOs. In the air samples, the concentrations of BCPs (0.020 pg/m) and BCOs (0.032 pg/m) were 3-4 orders of magnitudes lower than the concentrations of CPs (790 pg/m). Significant correlations ( < 0.001) were found between the concentration of CPs, BCPs, and BCOs in all the matrices.
Topics: Alkenes; Australia; China; Dust; Environmental Monitoring; Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated; Paraffin; Sewage
PubMed: 35976999
DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c03576 -
The Science of the Total Environment Jun 2022Recent achievement and progress in solar PV play a significant role in controlling climate change. This study reviewed comprehensively electrical characteristics, life... (Review)
Review
Recent achievement and progress in solar PV play a significant role in controlling climate change. This study reviewed comprehensively electrical characteristics, life cycle of dust, optical characteristics, and different cleaning techniques related to the effect of dust on the performance of PV modules throughout different climate regions of the world. The power maximum power point (MPP) and curve of PV module under the effect of irradiance and temperature were presented. The effect of dust (shading) on the electrical efficiency of PV module was discussed based on soft, partial, and complete (soiling) shading. The physical properties of dust around the globe such as PM concentration, dust loading (mgm), and fine dust particles concentration were covered and discussed. Reasons behind the accumulation of dust based on, location and installation factors, dust type, and environmental factors. Environmental reasons causing dust and dust removal in accordance with the life cycle of dust was covered in detail. All the reasons that cause the generation, accumulation and removal of dust during its life cycle were explained. All forces responsible for the adhesion phase of the dust life cycle were presented. The effect of dust on PV module transmittance and electrical parameters module were discussed in detail based on physical properties of the dust at its location and installation conditions. Self-cleaning super hydrophobic surfaces based on methods such as solvents, vapor-assisted coating, powder coating, and polymerization were discussed. All cleaning technologies, including self-cleaning technologies, based on the material coating used, and the manufacturing of PV cells was compared. The future prospective for PV technologies and cleaning methods were also covered.
Topics: Dust; Electricity; Solar Energy
PubMed: 35217056
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154050