Toxic elements, sources and health risk assessment of PM_2.5 in an industrial area of Surabaya, Indonesia

ABSTRACT

A comprehensive study on air quality in the industrial area of Indonesia, which significantly impacts respiratory health and poses breathing hazards, is still lacking. This study aims to uncover the contents of toxic elements, identify potential sources of fine particles, and evaluate their contributions to health risks in Surabaya’s industrial area. The study focuses on identifying chemical composition, sources, and assessing health risks for both children and adults. The PM_2.5 concentration from 2021 to 2022 ranged from 3.29 to 27.05 µg m⁻³, with an average value of 13.63 ± 4.54 µg m⁻³, exceeding the WHO’s annual standard of 5 µg m⁻³. Black carbon (BC) accounted for 27% of PM_2.5 composition. A seasonal variation was found; the highest PM_2.5 and BC were observed during the dry season, with the highest peak in June. The highest concentration of elements in PM_2.5 was observed for S, followed by Si, K, Zn, Fe, and Pb, with maximum values of 3.53, 1.16, 1.01, 1.86, 0.29, and 0.37 µg m⁻³, respectively. Source apportionment using positive matrix factorisation (PMF) revealed eight sources: galvanising industry, ammonium chloride, secondary sulphate, biomass burning emission, soil, steel industry, vehicle emissions, and lead smelting, with metal industries accounting for 37.3%. Investigation into their potential source locations was conducted using the conditional bivariate probability function (CBPF) method. Human health assessment for adults and children indicates carcinogenic risks with a total risk of 9.50 × 10⁻⁵ and 2.38 × 10⁻⁵, respectively. The results emphasise the significance of managing sources linked to industry and transportation-related sources, crucial in decreasing high PM_2.5 levels and several elevated elements and mitigating the health impact in Surabaya’s industrial area, Indonesia.

KEYWORDS:

• Toxic elements
• source apportionment
• fine particulate matter
• health risk assessment
• industrial emissions
• Indonesia

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/03067319.2024.2372005.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the student members in the Nuclear Engineering Department, Kyoto University, for their technical support with the accelerator start-up and operation during the experiments. We would like to express our gratitude to the Environmental Protection Agency of East Java Province for the airborne particulate matter sample collection from Surabaya, Indonesia.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Diah Dwiana Lestiani would like to thank to the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, for their financial grant through Ronpaku Dissertation PhD Program JSPS toward her PhD study. This research also received support through the research contract RCARP01/RC2 from the Regional Cooperative Agreement Research Organization (RCARO).

Notes on contributors

Diah Dwiana Lestiani

Diah Dwiana Lestiani is a senior researcher at the National Research and Innovation Agency of Indonesia, specialising in the utilisation of nuclear analytical techniques in environmental samples, source apportionment, and health risk assessment. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. programme at Kyoto University. She is the main contributor of this manuscript, contributing in conceptualization, data curation, sample analysis, funding acquisition, investigation, methodology, validation, visualization, software, and writing the original draft.

Muhayatun Santoso

Muhayatun Santoso is a research professor at the National Research and Innovation Agency of Indonesia, an expert in air quality, particularly in the utilisation of nuclear analytical techniques. She was responsible for funding acquisition, project administration, resources, supervision, and reviewing.

Sung Kijin

Sung Kijin is a graduate student in the Modelling, Analysis, Design, and Control of Dynamical Systems laboratory at Kyoto University. He contributed on sample analysis, software, and methodology.

Takagi Ikuji

Ikuji Takagi is a professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Kyoto University. He has extensive experience in nuclear engineering, specifically in the areas of IBA, nuclear materials, plasma interaction, hydriding, and irradiation damage. He handled funding acquisition, project administration, methodology, resources, and supervision.

Syukria Kurniawati

Syukria Kurniawati is researcher at the National Research and Innovation Agency of Indonesia, conducting research on air quality monitoring, application of nuclear analytical techniques, data analysis, and source apportionment.

Woro Y. N. Syahfitri

Woro Yatu Niken Syahfitri is junior researcher at the National Research and Innovation Agency of Indonesia, conducting research on air quality monitoring, sample preparation and measurement.

Endah Damastuti

Endah Damastuti is researcher at the National Research and Innovation Agency of Indonesia, conducting research on utilisation of nuclear analytical techniques, and source apportionment.