Determination of road dust loadings and chemical characteristics using resuspension

The contribution of fugitive dust from traffic to air pollution can no longer be ignored in China. In order to obtain the road dust loadings and to understand the chemical characteristics of PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 from typical road dust, different paved roads in eight districts of Beijing were selected for dust collection during the four seasons of 2005. Ninety-eight samples from 28 roads were obtained. The samples were resuspended using equipment assembled to simulate the rising process of road dust caused by the wind or wheels in order to obtain the PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 filter samples. The average road dust loading was 3.82 g m^− 2, with the highest of 24.22 g m^− 2 being in Hutongs in the rural–urban continuum during winter. The road dust loadings on higher-grade roads were lower than those on lower-grade roads. Attention should be paid to the pollution in the rural–urban continuum areas. The sums of element abundances measured were 16.17% and 18.50% for PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 in road dust. The average abundances of OC and EC in PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 in road dust were 11.52%, 2.01% and 12.50%, 2.06%, respectively. The abundance of elements, water-soluble ions, and OC, EC in PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 resuspended from road dust did not change greatly with seasons and road types. The soil dust, construction dust, dust emitted from burning coal, vehicle exhaust, and deposition of particles in the air were the main sources of road dust in Beijing. Affected by the application of snow-melting agents in Beijing during winter, the amount of Cl⁻ and Na⁺ was much higher during that time than in the other seasons. This will have a certain influence on roads, bridges, vegetations, and groundwater.