ENIVRONMENT ASIA

Volume 12, No. S, Month DECEMBER, Year 2019, Pages 28 - 35

Effects of overcrowded traffic and road construction activities in bangkok on pm2.5, pm10 and heavy metal composition

Paphinwit Thammasaroj and Wanida Jinsart

Abstract Download PDF

Bangkok, one of mega-cities, has faced environmental problems from high density of populations and traffic for many years. This study aims to quantify roadside fine particulate matters (PM) in term of PM2.5 (diameter less than 2.5 μm) and PM10 (diameter less than 10 μm) in construction related areas and traffic congested areas. The eastern routes, Pattanakan and Srinagarindra, those are located between inbound and outbound junction were selected as the studied sites. PM2.5 was sampled using mini-volume air sampler, while PM10 was sampled using cyclone air sampler. The PM was collected for 12 hours/day, continued 5 days for each sites, during November to December 2018. Then the dust samples were extracted by acidified microwave digestion. Five heavy metals (Fe, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb) were analyzed by Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (GFAAS). The traffic conditions monitored from video-camera were found more crowded in construction related area than traffic related area. The average PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations in construction related area (39.38 μg/m3 and 55.08 μg/m3, respectively) were higher than the control area without construction (36.15 μg/m3 and 48.87 μg/m3, respectively). The lowest concentration was (17.28 μg/m3 and 27.32 μg/m3) for the background site. However, it is the matter of the benefit to provide convenience in the future after the construction, whether the environmental problems could be solved in the long terms. This will be worth wide to monitor the trend of pollution changes and health impact in the future.

Keywords

Particulate matter, Heavy metals, Construction activity, Overcrowded traffic, Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (GFAAS)

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