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New comprehensive approach for airborne asbestos characterisation and monitoring

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Abstract

High concentrations of airborne asbestos in the ambient air are still a serious problem of air quality in numerous localities around the world. Since 2002, elevated concentrations of asbestos minerals of unknown origin have been detected in the ambient air of Pilsen, Czech Republic. To determine the asbestos fibre sources in this urban air, a systematic study was conducted. First, 14 bulk dust samples were collected in Pilsen at nine localities, and 6 bulk samples of construction aggregates for gravel production were collected in a quarry in the Pilsen-Litice district. The quarry is the largest quarry in the Pilsen region and the closest quarry to the built-up urban area. X-ray diffraction of the asbestos minerals revealed that monoclinic amphibole (MA, namely actinolite based on subsequent SEM-EDX analysis) in the bulk samples accounted for < 1–33% of the mass and that the highest values were found in the bulk dust samples from the railway platform of the Pilsen main railway station. Simultaneously, 24-h samples of airborne particulate matter (PM) at three localities in Pilsen were collected. Actinolite was identified in 40% of the PM samples. The relationship between the meteorology and presence of actinolite in the 24 PM10 samples was not proven, probably due to the long sampling integration time. Therefore, highly time-and-size-resolved PM sampling was performed. Second, sampling of size-segregated aerosols and measurements of the wind speed (WS), wind direction (WD), precipitation (P) and hourly PM10, PM2.5 and PM1 were conducted in a suburban locality near the quarry in two monthly highly time-resolved periods (30, 60, 120 min). Three/eight PM size fractions were sampled by a Davis Rotating-drum Uniform-size-cut Monitor (3/8DRUM) and analysed for the presences of asbestos fibres by scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX). Asbestos fibre detection in highly time-resolved PM samples and current WD and WS determination allows the apportionment directionality of asbestos fibre sources. The number of critical actinolite asbestos fibres (length ≥ 5 μm and width < 3 μm, 3:1) increased with the PM1–10/PM10 and PM2.5–10/PM10 ratios, WS > 2 m s−1 and precipitation < 1 mm. Additionally, the number of critical actinolite asbestos fibres was not related to a specific WD. Therefore, we conclude that the sources of airborne critical actinolite asbestos fibres in Pilsen’s urban area are omnipresent. Frequent use of construction aggregates and gravel from the metamorphic spilite quarries in the Pilsen region and in many localities around the urban area is a plausible explanation for the omnipresence of the critical actinolite asbestos fibres concentration in Pilsen’s ambient air. Mitigation strategies to reduce the concentrations of critical actinolite asbestos fibres must be developed. Continuous monitoring and performing SEM-EDX analysis of highly time-and-size-resolved PM samples, correlated with fast changing WS and WD, seems to be a strong tool for efficiently controlling the mitigation strategies of critical actinolite asbestos fibres.

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Acknowledgement

The authors acknowledge the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute Branch, Pilsen, for their cooperation during the measurements and data provision.

Funding

This work was supported by grant no P503/12/G147 of the Czech Science Foundation and by the Environmental Fund of Pilsen.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Environmental Studies, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Benátská 2, 12801, Prague 2, Czech Republic

    Miroslav Klán, Petra Pokorná & Jan Hovorka

  2. Department of Aerosol Chemistry and Physics, Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals of the CAS, v. v. i., Rozvojová 1/135, 165 02, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Petra Pokorná

  3. Institute of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Albertov 6, 12843, Prague 2, Czech Republic

    David Havlíček & Ondřej Vik

  4. Institute of Petrology and Structural Geology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Albertov 6, 12843, Prague 2, Czech Republic

    Martin Racek

  5. Institute of Inorganic Chemistry of the CAS, v.v.i., Husinec-Řež 1001, 250 68, Řež u Prahy, Czech Republic

    Jiří Plocek

Authors
  1. Miroslav Klán
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  2. Petra Pokorná
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  3. David Havlíček
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  4. Ondřej Vik
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  5. Martin Racek
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  6. Jiří Plocek
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  7. Jan Hovorka
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Petra Pokorná.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Gerhard Lammel

Highlights

• The development and test of a new method for fibres monitoring with high time resolution.

• Detection of actinolite asbestos in highly time-resolved urban PM, regardless of the wind direction, points to use of gravel in local roads/pathways.

• Increases in the number of actinolite asbestos fibres in PM with a high proportion of coarse PM and wind speed but low precipitation confirms the fugitive actinolite asbestos fibre sources.

• Week-long unattended highly time-resolved PM sampling and detection of asbestos minerals are suitable for evaluating the effectiveness of mitigation strategies.

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Klán, M., Pokorná, P., Havlíček, D. et al. New comprehensive approach for airborne asbestos characterisation and monitoring. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 30488–30496 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2791-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2791-7

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