Fractionation of trace elements and human health risk of submicron particulate matter (PM1) collected in the surroundings of coking plants

Samples of PM1 were collected in the surroundings of coking plants located in southern Poland. Chemical fractionation provided information on the contents of trace elements As, Cd, Co, Cr, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sb and Se in all mobile (F1–F3) and not mobile (F4) fractions of PM1 in the vicinity of large sources of emissions related to energochemical processing of coal during the summer. The determined enrichment factors indicate the influence of anthropogenic sources on the concentration of the examined elements contained in PM1 in the areas subjected to investigation. The analysis of health risk for the assumed scenario of inhabitant exposure to the toxic effect of elements, based on the values of the hazard index, revealed that the absorption of the examined elements contained in the most mobile fractions of particulate matter via inhalation by children and adults can be considered potentially harmless to the health of people inhabiting the surroundings of coking plants during the summer (HI < 1). It has been estimated that due to the inhalation exposure to carcinogenic elements, i.e., As, Cd, Co, Cr, Ni and Pb, contained in the most mobile fractions (F1 + F2) of PM1, approximately four adults and one child out of one million people living in the vicinity of the coking plants may develop cancer.