Elemental composition and rough source apportionment of fine particulate matter in air in Cracow, Poland

Samples of PM2.5 fraction (particles with aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 mu m) of air particulates were collected in winter 2011 and summer 2012 in Cracow, Poland. The concentrations of PM2.5 were 50 ±23 mu g/m³ (wintertime) and 16 ± 6 mu g/mV (summertime). The energy dispersive X-Ray fluorescence method was used for the determination of the concentrations of PM2.5-related elements. Principal component analysis and multilinear regression analysis were used to determine source contributions to ambient concentrations of PM2.5. In wintertime, the sources of air pollution were identified as municipal emission, steel and ferrous industry (49.2%), traffic (37.8%) and other, not identified sources (13%), whereas during summer, they were traffic (53%), steel and ferrous industry (18%), and not identified sources (29%).