Elemental composition and origin of PM10 in a fire station in Poland. Real-time results from the XRF analysis

This work presents the first results of the metal in particulate matter PM10 analysis and source apportionment in one of the fire station garages in Poland. The study’s novelty includes the high temporal resolution of the elemental composition of PM-bound metals since the gamma-ray fluorescence spectrometer with the high temporal resolution was used in the study. The concentrations of PM10 were measured at the same time using the method of beta-ray attenuation. The concertations of PM10 and PM-bound metals were analyzed with a temporal resolution of 4 h. To identify the source apportionment of metals, three commonly used models were applied: principal component analysis (PCA), EPA UNMIX, and EPA PMF (positive matrix factorization). The concentrations of the investigated metals have high temporal variations while the concentrations of PM10 were low in the garage. The enrichment of PM10 was very high or high, especially in sulfur, zinc, arsenic, nickel, cadmium, and lead. PCA analysis, as well as UNMIX and PMF, showed a high impact of factors related to sulfur on the variability. It showed the impact of combustion, including combustion of liquid fuels, in fire engines may have a crucial impact on air pollution in the fire station. The PMF analysis allowed us also to identify factors responsible for external anthropogenic emissions on concentrations inside the garage. Other identified sources of PM10 and PM10-bound elements are mineral dust, and road dust related to non-exhaust emission, originating inside the firehouse (resuspension and abrasion) as well as from outside.