Particle Size Distribution of Ambient Aerosols in an Industrial Area B. Padma Rao • A. Srivastava • F. Yasmin • S. Ray • N. Gupta • C. Chauhan • C. V. C. Rao • S. R. Wate Received: 25 August 2011 / Accepted: 28 December 2011 / Published online: 4 February 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012 Abstract Aerosol samples of PM 10 and PM 2.5 were col- lected from 38 sampling locations in and around the industrial area. The 24 h average mass concentration of PM 10 and PM 2.5 was 137.5 and 61.5 lg/m 3 respectively during summer, 122 and 97.5 lg/m 3 respectively in winter and 70 and 54 lg/m 3 respectively during post monsoon season. The relative contribution of coarse, fine and ultra- fine particle to ambient air was analyzed for its temporal and seasonal variability in an industrialized area. This paper aims to establish baseline between PM 10 and PM 2.5 mass concentration levels. Keywords Ambient aerosol Á Industrial area Á Size fractions Á PM 2.5 /PM 10 ratio Various researchers have identified particulates among the air pollutants for adverse health effect, because of its strongest association with daily mortality rate. The relative strength of association of air pollutants with mortality were reported as follows: PM 2.5 C PM 10 C SO 2 C H ? C O 3 C NOx (Dockery et al. 1992). Dockery and Pope (1994) reported that for each 10 lg/m 3 increase in concentration of particulate matter (PM) less than 10 lm in diameter, there is an estimate of increase in mortality of 0.6%–1.6% with an average increase of 1% (Ostro1996). The health impacts of finest particulate PM 2.5 is greater because it can penetrate deep into unciliated and alveolar sections of the lung were well reported in (Spengler et al. 1990). Many scientists, policy analysts, and governmental agencies in the US and Europe believe that current concentrations of pollution-derived particulate matter (PM) in ambient (outdoor) air are deadly causing thousands of premature deaths annually, (Colburn and Johnson 2003; Dockery et al. 1993; Dominici et al. 2003; Kjellstrom et al. 2002; Pope et al. 2002; Samet et al. 2000; Schwartz 1991). In India, there was AAQ standard for criteria pollutants including SPM and PM 10 up till Dec-2009. Recently the new NAQM standard has incorporated PM 2.5 along with 11 more pollutants as criteria pollutants. In view of this, very limited data is available on fine/ultrafine toxicity of dust and other pollutants. This demands an urgent need for study on the ratio of PM 2.5 /PM 10 in ambient air so that regional as well as global comprehensive inventory based air quality management may be delineated. The state of Orissa with its abundant resources has been an important player in the Indian economy. This has led to the devel- opment of many industries in various regions of it. The north-western part of it has shown incredible growth in industries since last decade (mostly air polluting type). The region has extensive mining and trading activities along with number of sponge iron, thermal power plants, alu- minum smelters spread in an area of 30 sq. km. All these have led to huge air pollution impact in this area. In an effort to address this issue, monitoring and analysis of fine particles (PM 2.5 and PM 10 ) was conducted during the year 2010–2011 for different seasons. In this work, the relative contribution of very fine (PM 2.5 ) to inhalable ambient particulate matter PM 10 was analyzed to examine their relationship. B. Padma Rao Á A. Srivastava Á F. Yasmin Á S. Ray Á N. Gupta Á C. Chauhan Á C. V. C. Rao Á S. R. Wate Air Pollution Control Division, NEERI Kolkata Zonal Lab, Kolkata, India B. Padma Rao (&) Á A. Srivastava Á F. Yasmin Á S. Ray Á N. Gupta Á C. Chauhan Á C. V. C. Rao Á S. R. Wate National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, NEERI (CSIR), Nehru Marg, Nagpur 440020, India e-mail: ps_rao@neeri.res.in 123 Bull Environ Contam Toxicol (2012) 88:717–721 DOI 10.1007/s00128-011-0518-2