This study was conducted to investigate the urban geochemistry of the city of Windsor (Ontario) and to provide added source apportionment information to work being carried out by the Canadian government. The goal of this study was to investigate the distribution, spatial variation and sources of manganese in urban Windsor soil. The literature indicates that human exposure to high levels of manganese, via inhalation, can cause respiratory and/or neurological effects. At the outset of the present study it was first hypothesized that vehicular traffic was the dominant source of anthropogenic manganese. An alternative hypothesis was that there were multiple anthropogenic sources of manganese in Windsor. The sample collection scheme was designed to determine (1) the current and background soil concentrations of manganese in Windsor, (2) the spatial distribution of manganese in order to reveal sources of manganese, and (3) the manganese content of moss-sequestered airborne particles, which can potentially deposit onto the soil surface, using low-technology biomonitoring. The first phase of the study consisted of a preliminary soil survey which identified elevated areas of soil manganese concentrations. During this survey, the field efficiency of a field portable X-ray fluorescence (FPXRF) instrument, as well as sample preparation methods were evaluated. Efficiency of the FPXRF was determined by comparison to ICP-MS, a traditional trace element analysis method. The preliminary soil survey identified several areas of elevated (ranging from 884 to 2390 ppm) soil manganese which were further investigated during the second, more complete, soil survey. The moss biomonitoring technique of using moss bags was used to collect airborne particles for semi-quantitative analysis. Analysis of soil samples included total manganese and other trace elements, pH, moisture and carbon content, and manganese speciation. Urban Windsor soil manganese distribution revealed both natural and anthropogenic sources of soil manganese and three distinct soil sample types, transect, baseline and natural. In general, manganese in Windsor had a west-to-east trend of decreasing levels in soil and moss-sequestered airborne particles. The latter showed a modern-day elemental signature while the former (collocated soil) a legacy elemental signature. It was concluded that both the FPXRF instrument and the moss biomonitoring technique can be useful screening tools in studies of urban environments.

In this study, atmospheric levels and sources of VOCs at Aliaga industrial area was investigated. For this, VOC concentrations were measured at two monitoring stations through winter and summer campaigns in 2005 and 2006. Sampling stations were located in downtown Aliaga and downwind of industrial facilities, approximately 500 m to the south east of Horozgedigi village. After the summer sampling, another temporary station was installed in between PETKIM and T&Uuml / PRAS, named as T&Uuml / PRAS Station to generate T&Uuml / PRAS and PETKIM profiles. More than 50 species were measured in all stations. In all stations, toluene has the highest contribution to total VOC concentration. Toluene is followed by m,p-xylene and benzene. While higher concentrations of traffic related VOCs were measured at Aliaga station, VOCs from industrial solvents and industrial processes were higher at Horozgedigi station. The concentration levels in Aliaga and Horozgedigi are found to be comparable to the other industrial regions reported in the literature. Investigation of episodes, diurnal variations of VOCs and meteorological parameters showed that PETKIM and T&Uuml / PRAS emissions affect the concentrations levels at Horozgedigi and Aliaga stations. Source profiles of PETKIM and T&Uuml / PRAS are determined by using the T&Uuml / PRAS station data set. 2-methyl-hexane, benzene and 2,2,3-tri-methyl-butane+2,3-di-methyl-pentane are found to be good markers of PETKIM emissions. Ten different VOC sources were identified in the region. These were gasoline exhaust, diesel exhaust, natural gas use, gasoline evaporation, industrial emissions-1, natural gas construction, non-industrial solvent use, industrial emissions-2, PETKIM emissions, and mixed emissions from PETKIM and shipbreaking facilities.

This study was conducted to investigate the urban geochemistry of the city of Windsor (Ontario) and to provide added source apportionment information to work being carried out by the Canadian government. The goal of this study was to investigate the distribution, spatial variation and sources of manganese in urban Windsor soil. The literature indicates that human exposure to high levels of manganese, via inhalation, can cause respiratory and/or neurological effects. At the outset of the present study it was first hypothesized that vehicular traffic was the dominant source of anthropogenic manganese. An alternative hypothesis was that there were multiple anthropogenic sources of manganese in Windsor. The sample collection scheme was designed to determine (1) the current and background soil concentrations of manganese in Windsor, (2) the spatial distribution of manganese in order to reveal sources of manganese, and (3) the manganese content of moss-sequestered airborne particles, which can potentially deposit onto the soil surface, using low-technology biomonitoring. The first phase of the study consisted of a preliminary soil survey which identified elevated areas of soil manganese concentrations. During this survey, the field efficiency of a field portable X-ray fluorescence (FPXRF) instrument, as well as sample preparation methods were evaluated. Efficiency of the FPXRF was determined by comparison to ICP-MS, a traditional trace element analysis method. The preliminary soil survey identified several areas of elevated (ranging from 884 to 2390 ppm) soil manganese which were further investigated during the second, more complete, soil survey. The moss biomonitoring technique of using moss bags was used to collect airborne particles for semi-quantitative analysis. Analysis of soil samples included total manganese and other trace elements, pH, moisture and carbon content, and manganese speciation. Urban Windsor soil manganese distribution revealed both natural and anthropogenic sources of soil manganese and three distinct soil sample types, transect, baseline and natural. In general, manganese in Windsor had a west-to-east trend of decreasing levels in soil and moss-sequestered airborne particles. The latter showed a modern-day elemental signature while the former (collocated soil) a legacy elemental signature. It was concluded that both the FPXRF instrument and the moss biomonitoring technique can be useful screening tools in studies of urban environments.

Burning joss paper and incense is a significant Taoist ceremonial practice in Asian countries such as Taiwan and China. The burning of joss paper has been demonstrated to significantly create particulate matters (PM) and to cause air pollution problems. PM in the atmosphere is among the primary air pollutants, and their sources are factories, vehicles, construction fields, combustion, vehicle exhaust dust, and aerosols derived from photochemical reactions. Numerous sources of environmental PM exist. Thus, the ability to rapidly determine the particulate type and source to adjust the controls and develop policies is an important issue for air quality management. This dissertation consists of two parts on the particulate emission control and characteristic identification. In the first part, we study investigates feasible options of air pollution control devices (APCD) for joss paper furnaces in temples, and used a 40 kg/hr joss paper furnace for testing. This paper examined particulate removal efficiencies of two options: a bag house (capacity 30 m3/min at 108 ¢J) and a wet scrubber (capacity 40 m3/min at 150 ¢J). The results indicate that PM in the diluted flue gas at the bag-house inlet were 76.6 ¡Ó 32.7 mg/Nm3 (average ¡Ó standard deviation), and those at the outlet of the bag-house could be reduced to as low as 0.55 ¡Ó 1.28 mg/Nm3. An average PM removal efficiency of 99.3 % could be obtained with a filtration speed of approximately 2.0 m/min evaluated at 108 ¢J. The wet scrubber removed approximately 70 % of PM, with scrubbing intensities higher than 4.0 L/m2.s across the scrubber cross-section. For the duration of the experiment, no visual white smoke (water mist) was observed at the exit of the wet scrubber with a combustion rate of 16 kg/hr of joss paper, and the scrubbing water temperature was automatically sustained at lower than 61 ¢J. The study concluded that both bag filtration and wet scrubbing are suitable techniques to control particulate emission from joss paper furnaces in Taiwanese temples. The bag filtration technique, while achieving higher efficiencies than the wet scrubbing technique, requires more space and cost. Examinations of bottom and fly ashes of combusted joss paper with X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed the presence of calcium oxide in the fly ash, while certain metals were found in the bottom ash. The second part aimed at the investigates surface characteristics of airborne PM sampled from air pollution control devices of a number of industrial operations. The PM sources selected for this study comprise the following operations or processes: a coke oven, iron ore sintering furnace, blast furnace, and basic oxygen furnace from an integrated steelmaking plant; electric arc furnaces of two secondary steelmaking plants; a municipal solids waste incinerator; two oil-fired boilers; and a coal-fired power plant boiler. The collected PM samples were analyzed using a scanning electronic microscope (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscope (EDS) to determine their chemical composition and surface characteristics. Results for each PM sample regarding size, surface characteristics, and chemical compositions can be used to trace the related emission industrial sources.

This study was conducted to investigate the urban geochemistry of the city of Windsor (Ontario) and to provide added source apportionment information to work being carried out by the Canadian government. The goal of this study was to investigate the distribution, spatial variation and sources of manganese in urban Windsor soil. The literature indicates that human exposure to high levels of manganese, via inhalation, can cause respiratory and/or neurological effects. At the outset of the present study it was first hypothesized that vehicular traffic was the dominant source of anthropogenic manganese. An alternative hypothesis was that there were multiple anthropogenic sources of manganese in Windsor. The sample collection scheme was designed to determine (1) the current and background soil concentrations of manganese in Windsor, (2) the spatial distribution of manganese in order to reveal sources of manganese, and (3) the manganese content of moss-sequestered airborne particles, which can potentially deposit onto the soil surface, using low-technology biomonitoring. The first phase of the study consisted of a preliminary soil survey which identified elevated areas of soil manganese concentrations. During this survey, the field efficiency of a field portable X-ray fluorescence (FPXRF) instrument, as well as sample preparation methods were evaluated. Efficiency of the FPXRF was determined by comparison to ICP-MS, a traditional trace element analysis method. The preliminary soil survey identified several areas of elevated (ranging from 884 to 2390 ppm) soil manganese which were further investigated during the second, more complete, soil survey. The moss biomonitoring technique of using moss bags was used to collect airborne particles for semi-quantitative analysis. Analysis of soil samples included total manganese and other trace elements, pH, moisture and carbon content, and manganese speciation. Urban Windsor soil manganese distribution revealed both natural and anthropogenic sources of soil manganese and three distinct soil sample types, transect, baseline and natural. In general, manganese in Windsor had a west-to-east trend of decreasing levels in soil and moss-sequestered airborne particles. The latter showed a modern-day elemental signature while the former (collocated soil) a legacy elemental signature. It was concluded that both the FPXRF instrument and the moss biomonitoring technique can be useful screening tools in studies of urban environments.

This study was conducted to investigate the urban geochemistry of the city of Windsor (Ontario) and to provide added source apportionment information to work being carried out by the Canadian government. The goal of this study was to investigate the distribution, spatial variation and sources of manganese in urban Windsor soil. The literature indicates that human exposure to high levels of manganese, via inhalation, can cause respiratory and/or neurological effects. At the outset of the present study it was first hypothesized that vehicular traffic was the dominant source of anthropogenic manganese. An alternative hypothesis was that there were multiple anthropogenic sources of manganese in Windsor. The sample collection scheme was designed to determine (1) the current and background soil concentrations of manganese in Windsor, (2) the spatial distribution of manganese in order to reveal sources of manganese, and (3) the manganese content of moss-sequestered airborne particles, which can potentially deposit onto the soil surface, using low-technology biomonitoring. The first phase of the study consisted of a preliminary soil survey which identified elevated areas of soil manganese concentrations. During this survey, the field efficiency of a field portable X-ray fluorescence (FPXRF) instrument, as well as sample preparation methods were evaluated. Efficiency of the FPXRF was determined by comparison to ICP-MS, a traditional trace element analysis method. The preliminary soil survey identified several areas of elevated (ranging from 884 to 2390 ppm) soil manganese which were further investigated during the second, more complete, soil survey. The moss biomonitoring technique of using moss bags was used to collect airborne particles for semi-quantitative analysis. Analysis of soil samples included total manganese and other trace elements, pH, moisture and carbon content, and manganese speciation. Urban Windsor soil manganese distribution revealed both natural and anthropogenic sources of soil manganese and three distinct soil sample types, transect, baseline and natural. In general, manganese in Windsor had a west-to-east trend of decreasing levels in soil and moss-sequestered airborne particles. The latter showed a modern-day elemental signature while the former (collocated soil) a legacy elemental signature. It was concluded that both the FPXRF instrument and the moss biomonitoring technique can be useful screening tools in studies of urban environments.

La connaissance des principales sources de l’aérosol permet d’améliorer, d’adapter et de cibler les mesures prises pour réduire les concentrations de particules fines. Ainsi, l’identification et la hiérarchisation des sources de particules fines sont des étapes essentielles à la mise en place d'une politique efficace d'amélioration de la qualité de l'air. Le travail mené durant cette thèse s’inscrit dans cette démarche puisqu'il avait pour objectif de quantifier les sources de PM2.5 en milieu industriel. Afin de répondre à cet objectif, deux campagnes de prélèvements ont été réalisés dont une sous les vents des principales activités industrielles afin de caractériser leurs émissions (profils) et une en zones urbaines caractéristiques de l’exposition de la population aux particules fines. Les résultats ont permis d'obtenir des empreintes représentatives des principales activités industrielles de la zone d'étude. L’analyse ME-2 menée a permis, avec la combinaison d’analyses radiocarbones, de déterminer que la source de combustion de biomasse est la source majoritaire pendant l’automne et l’hiver où les épisodes de PM2.5 ont été observés. La source industrielle est la source majoritaire des PM2.5 au printemps et en été mais ne constitue pas un driver fort de la concentration des PM2.5. Toutefois, cette étude a montré que les sources industrielles impactent significativement la population de particules (taille, composition, etc.) dans la zone d’étude. / In order to limit the impact of air quality on human health, public authorities need reliable and accurate information on the sources contribution. So, the identification of the main sources of PM2.5 is the first step to adopt efficient mitigation policies. This work carry out in this thesis take place in this issue and was to determine the main sources of PM2.5 inside an industrial area. To determinate the main sources of PM2.5, two campaigns were lead to collect daily PM2.5 to: 1/ determine the enrichment of atmospheric pollutants downwind from the main industrial activities and 2/ collect PM2.5 in urban areas characteristic of the population exposition. Results allowed to obtain very representative profiles for the main industrial activities implanted inside the studied area. ME-2 analysis, combined to radiocarbon measurements, allowed to highlight the very high impact of Biomass Burning sources for all the PM2.5 pollution events recorded from early autumn to March. This study showed that industrial sources, even if they are the major sources during spring and summer, are not the major PM2.5 driver. However, this study highlights that industrial sources impact significantly the aerosol population (size, composition, etc.) in the studied area.