Road traffic as an air pollutant contributor within an industrial park environment

This study aims to understand the relationship of the composition of pollutants and road traffic volume in an industrial environment. Two sampling stations were selected and samples were taken at two points, 1 m and 100 m from the roadside for each station, comparing a working day to a non-working day. The concentration of particulate matter with diameters of less than 10 μm (PM₁₀), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), and ozone (O₃) and the number of vehicle travelling the road on a site in an industrial area were monitored. The results show that the concentrations of pollutants at the sampling point 1 m from the roadside were significantly higher than at the sampling point 100 m from the roadside for PM₁₀ and CO, while the opposite was observed for the concentration of O₃ (p ≤.05). The levels PM₁₀, CO and SO₂ were significantly higher on a working day compared to a non-working day (p ≤.05). The number of vehicles on a working day and the concentration of PM₁₀ and CO were significantly correlated with r = 0.62 and 0.81, while O₃ showed a negative significant correlation r = −0.86 at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). The results demonstrate that the concentration of pollutants relates to the number of vehicles on the road and the distance from the road. Even though the selected sampling site is an industrial area, the majority of the pollutants detected were related to the road traffic activity.