[Pollution characteristics of platinum group elements in road rust in Xiamen]

With the potential risks for the environment and human health, the concentration and distribution characteristics of platinum group element(PGEs) in road dust in Xiamen city were investigated. Road dust samples were collected from the traffic trunk road, tunnel, tourism area, and industrial area of Xiamen on October 2012. The samples were digested with aqua regia in a microwave assisted digestion system under high pressure condition, separated and purified with cation exchange resin( Dowex AG50W-X8), and the resulting solutions were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The results showed that the average concentrations(range) of Pd, Pt and Rh in road dust were 246.82 (58.68-765.52) ng x g(-1), 95.45 (42.14-371.36) ng x g(-1) and 51.76 (21.04-119.72) ng x g(-1), respectively, which were two orders of magnitude higher than the background values. Compared with other cities worldwide, the concentrations of Pd, Pt and Rh in road dust in Xiamen were at higher levels. Theconcentrations of PGEs for different functional areas were listed in the following order: tunnel > urban district > industrial area > tourism area, which indicated that their spatial distributions were mainly affected by the traffic intensity. Correlation analysis results showed that concentration of Pd in the urban traffic artery was significantly correlated with Rh, while Pt was not so correlated with Pd and Rh, suggesting that other sources contributed to PGEs in road dust in addition to the vehicle emission. Although motor vehicle traveling was banned in tourist area, the concentration of PGEs was still at a high level. Some of them might originate from the road dust in surrounding area by atmosphere diffusion.