UNIVERSITI KUALA LUMPUR

MALAYSIAN INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL & BIOENGINEERING

TECHNOLOGY
LABORATORY REPORT
SUBMISSION FORM

To: MDM NIK IDA MARDIANA BINTI NIK PA Code Subject: CEB 31103

From: Student ID. No.:

NORATIQAH BINTI MAHPORD 55217115012

Group No.: L01-P1 Date of Experiment: 5/2/2018

Title of Experiment: EXPERIMENT 2 PART 1: MONITORING OF PARTICULATE MATTER

BY HIGH VOLUME SAMPLER

Received by: Date of Submission: 12/02/2018

Note: Submission is after 1 week. Late submission will be penalized.

*To be filled by the marker*

VERY POOR GOO VERY EXCELLEN

CRITERIA POOR D GOO T
2 D4
1 3 5

1.0 INTRODUCTION & OBJECTIVES (1

PAGE ONLY)

1. State the background to the experiment 3 6 9 12 15

conducted.
2. State the objectives of the experiment

2.0 PROCEDURE (1 PAGE ONLY)

1. Summarize step by step used in performing 3 6 9 12 15
this experiment.

3.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

(MINIMUM 2 PAGES)

1. Data are presented as deemed suitable with

complete label and units in tables and/or 8 16 24 32 40
graphs.
2. Explanations of the referred tables and/or
graphs are presented after it.

1
3. Discuss on the findings and relations to the
theory and objective of experiment.

4.0CONCLUSIONS (1 PAGE ONLY)

1. Summary of the results to relate the findings 3 6 9 12 15

or results with the theory applicable to the
experiment.

5.0 REFERENCES 1 2 3 4 5

6.0 FORMAT & LANGUAGE 2 4 6 8 10

TOTAL

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

TABLE OF CONTENT..................................................................................................... 3
1.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 4
1.2 OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................................ 6
1.3 METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................. 7
1.4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .............................................................................. 9
1.5 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................... 12
1.6 REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 13
1.7 APPENDIX .......................................................................................................... 14

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1.1 INTRODUCTION

Air can be defined as combination of gaseous matter that forms the stratosphere
or invisible gaseous substances surrounding the Earth. About 2.4 million people died
each year attributed by air pollution with 1.5 million of these deaths was attributable by
indoor air pollution which stated by the World Health Organization (WHO) (Azhari, et al.,
2014). Air pollution is when the introduction of particulate material, chemicals or biological
materials start to contaminate the air, and it may cause harm and discomfort to human
being and other living organisms. In life, humans needs clean air to breath. Otherwise,
human and other living organisms will find impossible to live on because this fact shows
the importance of air which consist of 78% nitrogen, 21% of oxygen while the balances
were from the mixture of other gases. Hence, it is the primary duty of everyone to maintain
the air quality.

Air quality is determined by the level of pollutants in the ambient air. The rapid
growth in industrialization and raising demands for motor vehicles are affecting the air
quality. Therefore, the main aspect of Air Quality Management is to monitor the pollution
level and take efficient preventive and control measures (Kushwaha, et al., 2016). In
addition, Air Pollution Index (API) is a simple way to describe the air quality which
generally used in Malaysia. It also an index that closely follows the United States
Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Pollution Standards Index in providing
information about the air pollution level. The API value gives an indication of the air quality
as shown in Table 1.1.

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 Table 1.1: The indication of the Air Pollution Index.

Indicator API Index Range

Good with low pollution without any bad effect on health. Below 50
Moderate pollution that does not pose any bad effect on 51 – 100
health.
Unhealthy which worsen the health condition of high risk 101 – 200
people with heart and lung complications.
Very unhealthy which worsen health condition and low 201 – 300
tolerance of physical exercise.
Hazardous to high risk people and public health. More than 300

There are two types of sampling method for air monitoring which are area sampling
and personal sampling. For area sampling it involves placing collection devices within
designated areas and operating them over a specific periods of time. While, for personal
sampling, it involves a collecting sampled from within the breathing zone of an individual
but sometimes by the individual wearing a sampling device (Robin & Sankaran., 2016).
Hence, in this study the particulate matter (PM10) air monitoring used is high volume air
sampler. The high volume air sampler is designed to collect the ambient particulate and
used to suck the volume of air through the filter size of 10 µm. The high volume air sampler
typically operates during 24 hours sampling period. The total suspended particulate
matter can be collected after the sampling period by weighing the final weight of the filter
paper.

Furthermore, the heavy metals contained in the total suspended particulate matter
can be analyzed through a digestion and atomic adsorption spectroscopy (AAS) methods.
The heavy metals that may contained in total suspended particulate matter are lead,
chromium, zinc, cadmium and others. All these heavy metals can cause a serious health
problems which it cause by many types of combustion of fossil fuels, iron works, tobacco
smoke and others.

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1.2 OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this study are to measure the particulate matter (PM) in the range
of size between 0 to 10 µm. Other than that, the objective of this study is to determine the
lead (Pb) in the contaminants by using atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS).

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1.3 METHODOLOGY

This experiment was consist of two part which the first part is the high volume
sampler measurement of size classified particulate matter and second part is the analysis
of metallic air pollutants.

PART A: High volume sampler measurement of size classified particulate matter

Filter Weighing
Filter Identification

 The initial weight of the filter

 The filter paper size was
paper was weighed and
determined which is 203
recorded.
mm x 254 mm and the
 Then, the filter paper was
pores size is 10µm.
placed in the sealed plastic
 The location, time and bag before put into the
date were also recorded. instrument.

PM10 Measurement Filter Sampling

 The filter paper was weighed  The filter paper was

for final reading after 24 hours removed from the sealed
and recorded. plastic bag and was put at
 The concentration of PM10 the center of the support
was calculated. screen with the rough side
 The filter paper was placed of the filter facing upward.
back into the sealed plastic  After sampling was
bag for further analysis. completed for 24 hours, the
filter paper was put into the
sealed plastic bag.

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PART B: Analysis of metallic air pollution

The filter paper Next, the filter paper was

collected after 24 digested by low heated
hours was cut into (90℃) in 50 ml of
small pieces with a hydrochloric acid (HCl) for
diameter of 6.6cm and 30 min. The beaker was
placed into 250ml covered by glass lid to
beaker. prevent an evaporation.

Then, the solution was

transferred into 50 ml
volumetric flask and about After 30 min, the
10 drops of nitric acid (HNO3) solution was cooled
were added. The solution at room temperature
was make up to volume with without removed the
distilled water. The mixture glass lid.
was shake well.

The result obtained

was recorded and
identify whether there
is a present of lead or
Lastly, the mixture was checked no.
for the present of heavy metal
(Pb) by using atomic absorption
spectroscopy (AAS). Before the
sample was checked, the
standard of lead solution was
measured.

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1.4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In this experiment, a volume of air was sucked by a high volume air sampler with
a speed blower through a fine filter which the filter used was filter paper with size of 10
µm and the particles with the larger size than 10 µm will trapped on the filter paper
whereas, the particles with smaller size than 10 µm will passed through the filter paper.
The particles filtered was a total suspended particulate matter (PM) which particulate
matter is a combination of fine solids such as dirt, soil dust, pollens, molds and aerosols
that are formed in the atmosphere from gaseous combustion. It may also consist of heavy
metals such as copper, lead, zinc and others. This high volume air sampler was operated
for 24 hours to collect the total suspended particulate matter. Before and after the
experiment, the filter paper was weighted and recorded to calculate the particulate
concentration, as shown in Table 1.2.

Table 1.2: Particulate matter PM10 data recorded.

Site Lab 17
Sample Date 5 February 2018
Collection Date 6 February 2018
Time 2.30 pm
Initial Filter Weight 4.32 g
Gross Filter Weight 4.33 g
Net Particulate Weight (A) 0.01 g
Flow Rate (Using a flow meter) 40 ft3/min
Total Sample Time 24 hours
Total Air Volume (40 x 1440) x 0.028 = 1612.8 m3
Particulate Concentration 6.20 µg/m3
Exposed Area 20.5 x 7 = 553.5 cm2

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 Based on the data obtained in Table 1.2, the net particulate matter weight is 0.01
g which is less amount. This indicates that the particulate matter that trapped on the filter
paper is less. This may due to the windy day which the strong wind might affected the
particulate matter is hard to suck into the high volume air sampler. From the amount of
net particulate matter, the particulate concentration was calculated, as shown in Appendix
A. The particulate concentration obtained was 6.20 µg/m3. Based on National Ambient
Air Quality Standards, the accepted particulate concentration for industrial, residential and
rural areas is 60 µg/m3 (Kushwaha, et al., 2016). Therefore, from the data obtained in this
study, the particulate concentration is accepted. In addition, the high volume air sampler
gives a reading on the Dickson chart and the reading obtained was 35 cfm, as shown in
Figure 1.1. The Dickson chart recorder us to measure the sampling flow rate.

The red line

was read to
measure the
sampling flow
rate.

Figure 1.1: The sampling flow rate measured by Dickson chart recorder.

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 Furthermore, the sample was analyzed for the present of heavy metal which is
lead (Pb) by using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). But before the sample was run
into the AAS, the sample was digested using acids such as hydrochloric acid and nitric
acid. The acid digestion will digest the heavy metals present on the surface of filter paper
and diluted into the solution. During the digestion, the beaker was closed with glass lid to
prevent the evaporation of the solution. After the digestion completed, the heavy metal of
lead (Pb) was checked and the data was recorded as shown in Figure 1.2. From the data
obtained, the concentration of Pb in the sample is – 0.015 mg/L which the negative sign
indicates there is an absent of Pb in the sample.

Figure 1.2: The data obtained after atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) method.

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1.5 CONCLUSION

Based on this study, the air monitoring of particulate matter was monitored by
using high volume air sampler which the sampling air flow rate is 35 cfm measured by
Dickson chart recorder. Then, the net particulate weight obtained was 0.01 g and the
particulate concentration determined is 6.20 µg/m3. Based on National Ambient Air
Quality Standards, the accepted particulate concentration for industrial, residential and
rural areas is 60 µg/m3. Therefore, in this study, the particulate concentration is accepted.
For the second part, the present of Pb was determined by acid digestion and AAS method
which the concentration of Pb in the sample is –0.015 mg/L which the negative sign
indicates there is an absent of Pb in the sample. Hence, the air monitoring of particulate
matter at Lab 17 is free from lead pollutant.

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1.6 REFERENCES

Azhari, A. M. M., Zaki, W. S. W., Zainal, N., Ishak, B., Kornain, Z., & Jamil, M. M. A.
(2014). The development of air quality monitoring system. Journal of Engineering
Technology. 2014(1): 69 – 73.

Hendriks, C., Kranenburg, R., Kuenen, J., Gijlswijk, R. V., Kruit, R. W., Denier, H. G., &
Schaap, M. (2013). The origin of ambient particulate matter concentrations in the
Netherlands. Atmospheric Environment. 69: 289 – 303.

Kushwaha, K., Sundar, K. M. S., & Karthikeyan, S. (2016). Assessment of heavy metals
from respirable suspended particulate matter (PM10) in Thiruvottiyur, Chennai, India.
International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology. 3(8): 796 – 802.

Robin, G., & Sankaran, S. (2016). A study on ambient air quality monitoring in
Chidambaram. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology. 3(4):
2616 – 2619.

Srinivasa, R. S., Rajamani, N. S., & Reddi, E. U. B. (2015). Assessment of heavy metals
in respirable suspended particulate matter at residential colonies of Gajuwaka
Industrial Hub in Visakhapatnam. International Journal of Geology, Agriculture and
Environmental Sciences. 3(1): 56 – 64.

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1.7 APPENDIX

APPENDIX A

Particulate Concentration = Net particulate weight × Total air volume

1000000 𝜇𝑔
= 0.01 𝑔 × 1612.8 𝑚2 ×
1𝑔

= 6.20 µg/m3

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