A CDV study revealed that non-exhaust traffic emissions are a significant source of chromium in Brno’s air. The research also described seasonal changes in the occurrence of health-relevant chromium species in particulate matter.
Abstract
This article deals with the analysis of total chromium (Cr) by ICP-MS/MS, as well as soluble Cr3+ and soluble Cr6+, which are commonly found in the PM10 size fraction of airborne aerosols. Chromium speciation analysis was based on the ion-exchange HPLC-ICP-MS/MS method utilising isotopically enriched chromium species standards, providing deeper insight into the chromium balance.Total Cr content showed no difference between winter and autumn, but it was highly dependent on location within the city. Since Cr3+ was the dominant extractable chromium species (representing 87-100%), it primarily mirrored the trends observed for total chromium. However, it should be noted that the soluble Cr species fraction was only 15.4 ± 17.1%. The content of Cr6+ increased especially during the winter period, when more precipitation was recorded and, atypically, higher concentrations of O3 were observed in the air. Conversely, the proportion of Cr3+ increased with rising air pressure and temperature, as well as with the intensity of global radiation and sunshine. From a local perspective, the highest abundance of Cr6+ was observed in Lužánky Park, which is located near heating plants. During the intense heating season, transport was rather a minor source of Cr6+.Finally, the chromium profile was determined in the fourteen different size fractions of PMx within the range of 0.016 - 10 μm. The highest Cr levels were observed in the 0.6, 1.6 and 10 μm size fractions during the winter period, reaching approximately 465 ± 88 pg m−3.
Citation
Romana Michalicová, Tomáš Pluháček, Jitka Hegrová, Josef Svoboda, Radek Vít, Karel Effenberger, Roman Ličbinský, Autumn-winter variability of chromium species in the PM₁₀ fraction of urban aerosols in Brno, Czech Republic, Environmental Research, Volume 302, 2026, 124608, ISSN 0013-9351, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2026.124608.