%0 Journal Article
%T Determination of Lead, Cations, and Anions Concentration in Indoor and Outdoor Air at the Primary Schools in Kuala Lumpur
%A Normah Awang
%A Farhana Jamaluddin
%J Journal of Environmental and Public Health
%D 2014
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2014/408275
%X This study was carried out to determine the concentration of lead (Pb), anions, and cations at six primary schools located around Kuala Lumpur. Low volume sampler (MiniVol ) was used to collect the suspended particulates in indoor and outdoor air. Results showed that the concentration of Pb in indoor air was in the range of 5.18 ¡À 1.08£¿¦Ìg/g¨C7.01 ¡À 0.08£¿¦Ìg/g. All the concentrations of Pb in indoor air were higher than in outdoor air at all sampling stations. The concentrations of cations and anions were higher in outdoor air than in indoor air. The concentration of (39.51 ¡À 5.01£¿mg/g¨C65.13 ¡À 9.42£¿mg/g) was the highest because the cation existed naturally in soil dusts, while the concentrations of and were higher in outdoor air because there were more sources of exposure for anions in outdoor air, such as highly congested traffic and motor vehicles emissions. In comparison, the concentration of (29.72 ¡À 0.31£¿¦Ìg/g¨C32.00 ¡À 0.75£¿¦Ìg/g) was slightly higher than . The concentrations of most of the parameters in this study, such as , , , , and , were higher in outdoor air than in indoor air at all sampling stations. 1. Introduction Air pollution is generally the most widespread and obvious kind of environmental damage [1]. Kuala Lumpur, which is the federal capital and the largest city in Malaysia, is also suffering from air pollution problem. The last decade has seen its phenomenal growth as a centre of commerce in the region, and this trend is still continuing. With the increase in energy consumption and urbanization in Kuala Lumpur, the increase in ambient air pollution seems inevitable [2]. Air pollutants, which exist in the form of solid, semisolid, liquid, and gas, are emitted directly or indirectly from their sources. Some heavy metals such as lead and cadmium are common environmental pollutants in industrialised and developing countries [3]. Lead is a very toxic, nondegradable heavy metal that exists naturally in Earth¡¯s crust [4, 5]. Lead in the atmosphere arises from two major ways, which are primary sources including lead from mining activities and secondary sources such as industrial emission, battery manufacturing, and additives in motor vehicles gasoline. In any population, children are more vulnerable to lead exposure than adults because children have higher hand-to-mouth activities and higher rate of gastrointestinal absorption, and their developing brains are more sensitive to insults from lead exposure [6]. Ionic species either anions or cations can significantly be found in the form of particulate in the air especially during air pollution.
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jeph/2014/408275/