Speciation of arsenic in coarse and fine urban aerosols using sequential extraction combined with liquid chromatography and atomic fluorescence detection.

An analytical procedure for speciation of As in urban aerosol samples was developed. The aerosols were collected by sequential filtration through membrane filters. Part of each filter was investigated by INAA for the total amount of As.

Distribution of toxic and radiation components in air particulates.

The concentrations of several toxic heavy metals and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in various types of Hungarian fly-ash fine particulates were investigated by means of instrumental neutron activation analysis, X-ray fluorescence analysis and gas chromatography, coupled with mass spectrometry. Within a power station, particulate samples were taken from the boiler zone (BO), from the electrostatic dust filter chamber (FI) and from the flue-gas at the top of the stack (ST). Enrichment rates of the toxic metals both in FI and ST particulate fractions related to the BO concentrations were calculated to enable the temperature dependence on the adsorption of the toxic components to be studied.