Influence of Particle Size in the Characterization of Street Dust by Proximal Soil Sensing

Abstract

Urban road dust can be enriched in different elements and hence it can pose a threat to human and environmental health. Proximal soil sensing allows the swift monitoring of such particles in order to drive attention to any possible risks. The goal of this study is to find the variation in concentrations found when using a portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) proximal sensor for the determination of metals in road dust with different degrees of sample pretreatment. In general, although results are element dependent, sieving samples to a particle size of <250 µm is recommended. This study can help field workers to define an expected accuracy when using sensors in street dust analysis.

Keywords

• street dust
• XRF
• proximal soil sensor
• soil
• characterization
• particle size
• pretreatment