2018 Volume 53 Issue 2 Pages 45-53
The awareness regarding the negative impact of Sb on the environment has increased with the growing impact of human activity. Therefore, studies on the source apportionment of Sb and the establishment of its property as an indicator of emission sources have received particular attention. A receptor-oriented source profiling study was started by focusing on the fingerprints such as long-term trend of Sb, particle size distribution, and elemental composition in the atmospheric aerosols. At a roadside site, the size distribution of the Sb concentration exhibits a bimodal profile in which peaks were found in the fine (particle size range of 0.5–0.7 μm) and the coarse (particle size range of 3.6–5.2 μm) fractions. Interestingly, the distribution of Sb in the fine fractions was highly similar to those of Cd and Pb, whereas in the coarse fractions, it was highly similar to those observed of Cu and Ba. These fingerprints well corresponded to the source profiles of waste fly ash and automotive brake abrasion dust, respectively. The majority of the Sb was apportioned into two major sources (38% for waste fly ash and 55% for brake abrasion dust) by a chemical mass balance model. Moreover, the speciation analysis revealed that the highly toxic airborne Sb(III) had originated from brake abrasion dust. This paper reviews the trend in the source apportionment study on atmospheric Sb, and deals with some perspectives of the receptor-oriented studies of atmospheric aerosols.
