Study of metallic trace elements in attic dust from two former industrial cities, Salg&#243;tarj&#225;n and &#211;zd (Hungary)
Authors: Salazar Nelson , Abbaszade Gorkhmaz , Tserendorj Davaakhuu , Völgyesi Péter , Zacháry Dóra , Szabó Katalin , Szabó Csaba 
Published: March 2020

&lt;p&gt;Anthropogenic activities such as heavy industries produced, among others, airborne pollutants, which are deposited inside the attic of houses like dust material for decades. &amp;#160;Study of attic dust can be an efficient media to better understand long-term airborne dust contamination and distribution in urban areas. &amp;#160;&amp;#211;zd (OZD) and Salg&amp;#243;tarj&amp;#225;n (STN) are two former industrial cities in the northeastern part of Hungary and separated by 40 km. &amp;#160;Both cities have exposed contaminants for different time periods and sources such as coal mining, local coal fired power plant, iron/steelworks and glass factories, transportation, etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For this study, 40 attic dust samples from STN and 49 attic dust samples from OZD were collected in houses with attics intact for at least 30 years containing long-term industrial pollution. &amp;#160;The concentrations of 13 metals (Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni Cu, Zn, Ag, Sn, Mo and W) were analyzed with ICP-MS. &amp;#160;Most of these elements are considered potentially toxic elements related to industrial activities. &amp;#160;The main aim of the present study was to compare the concentrations, enrichment factors (EFs) in both cities. &amp;#160;EF of each metal was calculated with the formula: EF = [M/Fe]sample/[M/Fe] background, where (M) metals concentration and Fe was used for normalization, following the suggestion in the literature [1] for industrialized cities. &amp;#160;However, geochemical background values for both cities were taken from STN brown-forest soil.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The median concentration (mg kg&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;) of the studied metals for the 40 attic dust samples for STN= Fe(23000), Zn(631), Mn(422), Ti(385), Cu(67.7), Cr(26.9), V(42.0), Ni(29.7), Sn(8.70), Co(7.60), Mo(5.24), W(3.26), and Ag(0.030). Likewise, median concentration (mg kg&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;) for the 49 attic dust samples for OZD= Fe(48000), Zn(1338), Mn(1249), Ti(230), Cu(104), Cr(55.9), V(42.0), Ni(28.0), Sn(16.2), Co(7.20), Mo(4.68), W(3.64), Ag(0.116).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The values of median enrichment factor (EF) revealed the following order: STN=(Ti&gt;W&gt;Sn&gt;Cu&gt;Zn&gt;Mo&gt;Ag&gt;Cr&gt;V&gt;Ni&gt;Mn&gt;Co) and OZD=(W&gt;Ti&gt;Sn&gt;Ag&gt;Zn&gt;Cu&gt;Cr&gt;Mo&gt;V&gt;Mn&gt;Ni&gt;Co). &amp;#160;The results for both cities are Ti, W, Sn, Cu, Ag, Zn with enrichment factor (EF)&gt;5, which represent significant or very significant enrichment; Ni, Mn, Co show values of (EF)&lt;2 indicating no enrichment- to minimal enrichment, and Cr has 2&lt;(EF)&lt;5 = moderate enrichment. &amp;#160;Note that V shows moderate enrichment in STN samples and minimal enrichment in OZD samples.&amp;#160; Molybdenum shows significant in STN samples and moderate enrichment in OZD samples.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The differences between OZD and STN attic dusts show the complexity of two scenarios where concentrations in OZD attic dusts are 1.5 &amp;#8211; 4 times higher than STN ones and significant enrichment for Sn, Ag, Zn, Cu, Cr due to probably more intense steelwork activities.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keyword: Attic dust, enrichment factor, Salg&amp;#243;tarj&amp;#225;n, &amp;#211;zd.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reference:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1] Luo, X. S., Xue, Y., Wang, Y. L., Cang, L., Xu, B., &amp; Ding, J. (2015). Source identification and apportionment of heavy metals in urban soil profiles. Chemosphere, 127, 152&amp;#8211;157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2015.01.048&lt;/p&gt;