Vol.7 No.

2 Advances in Atmospheric Sciences May 1990

A Study of Suspended Particulate Matter

in Lahore (Pakistan)

K. Hussain
Centre for Solid State Physics, University of the Punjab,New campus, Lahore 54590 (Pakistan)
Ruby Riffat and A. Shaukat,
Department of Physics, University of the Punjab,New Campus, Lahore 54590 (Pakistan)
and M. Ashraf Siddiqui
Institute of Geology, University of the Punjab,New Campus, Lahore 54590 (Pakistan).
Received July 31, 1989

ABSTRACT

The results obtained from an investigation of suspended particulate matter in the metropolitan city of Lahore
(Pakistan) are reported and analysed in this paper. X - r a y diffraction studies of the airborne matter collected from va-
rious urban and suburban sites show that non-clay minerals such as quartz, calcite and albite are contained in most
of the samples in almost comparable amounts. Chemical analysis of some samples was carried out for complementing
the x-ray diffraction data. The amount of quartz in the samples of dusty areas was found to be an order of magnitude
more than in the samples of relatively cleaner areas. As the dust particles of these compounds are poor substrate for
promoting nucleation of ice in the atmospheric clouds, they are liable to stay steadily in the atmosphere as pollutants.
A comparison of the results of the airborne particulates and the soil samples collected from various sites show
that the sources of quartz', calcite and albite in the airborne matter are both local and remote.

I. INTRODUCTION

Suspended particulate matter (SPM) in the atmosphere comes from many sources, name-
ly, the dust blown off the earth's crust, the gases released into the air by burning fuel and the
waste created by man. The airborne matter therefore causes pollution which threatens life on
the planet including man's own existence.
The study of airborne particulates has become an active field of research for the past
decades (see, for example, Chepil, 1965; Patterson and Gillette, 1979; Davis, 1984; Wolf and
Korsog, 1985; Noll et al., 1985; and Mamane and Noll, 1985). Recently a global air moni-
toring programme for the study of SPM was conducted by the World Health Organization as
a part of the Global Environment Monitoring System (GEMS). Some 50 countries partici-
pated in the GEMS air monitoring project and data were obtained approximately at 175 sites
in 75 cities. The results of this study, reported by Bennett et al. (1985) and de Koning et al.
(1986) have shown that Teheran, Bombay and Calcutta are the most polluted cities in Asia.
The study also indicated, though not supported by any data, that Lahore in Pakistan is also
emerging as a highly polluted city. This situation motivated us to start a study on the air in
the area. As a first step, SPM was collected from various urban and suburban sites in the city
and was subjected to phase / compound analysis by x-ray diffraction. Wet chemical analysis
of a few samples was also carried out for supporting the x-ray diffraction results.
No.2 K.Hussain, Ruby Riffat and A.Shaukat et al., 179

X - r a y diffraction and chemical analyses were also conducted on soil samples of the area
for source apportionment. Results of the study are reported in this paper.
II. E X P E R I M E N T

Sample Collection
Lahore is the second populous and an industrial city in the northeastern Pakistan. It is a
provincial capital with its metropolitan area of about 400 km 2. The population of the city is
around 4 million. Geographically the city lies on 35~ latitude and 74~ longitude and
its height from the mean sea level is 213m. Its climate is hot in the summer and cold in the
winter; the maximum temperature during the summer months is usually 40~ and occasional-
ly it shoots up to 49~ The minimum summer temperature fluctuates around 25~ In the
winter months, the maximum and minimum temperatures are respectively around 20~ and
5~ Lahore is hit by the southwesterly monsoons in the summer and by the northeasterly
monsoons in the winter. The summer months, namely, May and June are usually dry with
some occasional windstorm activities. During these months the atmosphere is also occasional-
ly hazy. The relative humidity is usually low almost over the year except during July, August
and September whenit reaches near water saturation occasionally.
For the collection of SPM samples, the metropolitan city was divided into eight regions;
four in the city centre and four in the suburbs. The regions 1 and 2 were city centre residential
and 3 and 4 city centre commercial/residential. The suburban regions 5 to 8 were
respectively suburban industrial / residential, suburban commercial / residential, suburban
residential and suburban agricultural.
A simple way was adopted for the collection of suspended particulates. Eight air-condi-
tioned houses were chosen, one in each area. Filters of the sir-conditioners were cleaned by
the beginning of May, 1986. The families living in the houses ran the air-conditioners daily
for a minimum duration of 12 hours. By the end of June, 1986, the dust deposited on the fil-
ters was collected. Each sample was strained in order to remove fibrous material.
For source apportionment, soil samples were also collected from areas close to the SPM
sampling sites. The soil samples were later air-dried in the laboratory and pulverized so that
the grain size was less than 10 #m.
Phase / CompoundAnalysis
Phase / compound analysis of the SPM and soil samples was carried out by employing
an automated powder x-ray diffractometer (Rigaku model D / M A X - I I A ) which is equip-
ped with a scintillation counter and a pulse-height analyser. The electronic circuit panel of
the diffractometer is capable of computing Bragg angles (20~ d-spacings, peak height and
peak width at half-maximum intensity.
In the powder x-ray diffraction method, a very fine powder having particle/crystallite
size of less than 10 #m is placed in a monochromatic x-ray beam. Each crystallite of the
powder is a tiny single crystal, oriented randomly with respect to the incident x-ray beam.
Just by chance, some of the crystallites will be correctly oriented so that their similar lattice
planes can reflect the incident beam. Other crystallites will be correctly oriented for reflections
from another set of lattice planes and so on. The result is that every set of lattice planes will be
capable of reflection. The powder x-ray diffractometer gives reflections from all the possible
sets of lattice planes of a crystallographic material. The set of reflections so obtained, called a
diffraction pattern--a plot between the Bragg angles and the integrated intensities of the cor-
 180 Advances in Atmospheric Sciences Vol.7

responding reflectionsm is a characteristic of the material. The phases / compounds present

in a sample could therefore be identified from their characteristic x-ray diffraction patterns.
The x-ray diffraction results reported in this paper were obtained by running the
diffractometer in the step-scan mode with the diffractometer conditions given in Table 1. The
diffraction data (Bragg angles, d-spacings, and integrated intensities) were obtained with the
step size of 0.02~ quality of the pattern was found to decrease with the step size larger
or less than 0.02 ~ . The peak positions (20 angles) and d-spacings obtained with the step size
of 0.02 ~ were found to have the best accuracy.
Table 1. Diffractometer Conditions

X-ray Cu-K,,(Ni-filtered)
Tube voltage and current 40 KV. 25 mA
Start Angle 40~
Stop Angle 3~
Step width 0.02~
Preset time 0.5 s
Divergency 1~
Receiving slit size 0.15 mm
Detector Scintillation counter

a : SOIL
b:SPH

t.J ~ i.I ,-,

I I I I I
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 60
2e [degrees]

Fig.l. X - r a y diffraction patterns of a soil and a SPM sample. K: Koalinte; I: Illite; Ch: Chorite; Q: Quartz; C:
Calcite; A: Albite; G: Gypsum; T: Talc.

In order to obtain x-ray diffraction data the SPM and soil samples were pressed gently
into Aluminium/Glass holders and then loaded one by one on the powder diffractometer.
Two samples, one SPM sample and one soil sample, were also subjected to wet chemical ana-
lysis.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The SPM samples collected from various city centre and suburban regions of Lahore
were greyish in colour except the suburban agricultural sample which looked light brown. The
No.2 K.Hussain, Ruby Riffat and A.Shaukat et al., 181

~
;,=

-" o

I N I I N I ~ I I ~ I I N I N ~ I I I ~ I ~ I I ~ I ~
I=l
0

~ ~ I I ~ M ~ M M ~ ~ M M ~ ~ ~ M ~ ~ M M M M ~ ~ 1 4

~ '~ I ~ I ~ ~ ~ ~ + ~ ~ o ~ ~ I ~

I ~ I ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
0

I ~ I ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ rc ~ ~ 1 ~

~ ~ l ~
0

I;I

r~
,i~ =1 ~4 rC I I ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I ~ ~ ~ ~F ~ 1 ~ ~ 1 ~
0

~ ~ 1 ~

=l e~
~ I ~ ~ ~ ~

0 ~ I ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ H ~
0

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I ~
I;I
0

~ I ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I I ~ ~ I ~ ~ 0 ~ I ~ ~ ~ I ~
0
M

I
 182 Advances in Atmospheric Sciences Vol.7

former samples were from the sites located in or near the city centre. The greyish colour is due
to the smokes of the burning fuels, The SPM samples collected from regions 2, 5, and 6 were
little coarser than those from other regions.
For estimation of particle size, one of the SPM samples, the one collected from region 4,
was pressed to form a pellet which was then carbon sputtered. Subsequently the pellet was
studied by employing a scanning electron microscope. The micrographs obtained at a
magnification of 2000 • are reproduced in plates 1 and 2. The micrographs show that dust
particles are of irregular shape and their average size varies from about < 1 /~m to > 10 /zm.

0 25 50 75 100
I i I I
100 9 auartz
' 100
9 Calcite
Alblte
75 75
2e

50 50
i
e 5

25 3 le 25
7e

it
7A A1 A/, 0~

39 0
5A 29

5 6

t 37~,1
I 8--1 ! I t~, I I

0 2 4 6 8 10 75 100

Fig.2. Integrated intensities of Quartz, Calcite and Albite in soil / dust sample pairs.

The x-ray diffraction data for both types of samples are given in Table 2 and the
phases/compounds identified as constituents of the samples are also indicated. X - r a y
diffraction patterns (Bragg angles versus arbitrary intensity ) for one of the SPM / soil sam-
ple pairs are also reproduced in Figure 1. Table 3 records the wet chemical analysis results.
No.2 K.Hussain, Ruby Riffat and A.Shaukat et al., 183

Table 3. Chemical Analysis of a Soil and an SPM Sample

Percent Composition
Oxide Soil SPM
SiO 2 61.2000 60.4800
Fe203 }
TiO2 16.4000 9.3000
A12 0 3

CaO 5.6250 7.8000

Na20 3.3333 5.1600
K20 1.8750 2.6666
Loss of sample on ignition 9.1000 12.0200

The X - r a y diffraction results show that the minerals contained consistently by both
types of samples are kaolinite, illite, chlorite, quartz, calcite and albite. Gypsum and talc also
appear to be present in minor amounts in some of the samples. The oxides identified by the
chemical analysis confirm the presence of the above minerals in the samples.
Table 4. Comparison of Cell Dimensions of Ice and Minerals Identified-in the SPM Sam ~les

Crystal Basal Misfit* Prism Misfit+

Material a (A) c (A)
System (Percent) (Percent)
Ice Hexagonal 4.498 7.338 - -
Kaolinite Triclinic 5.155 7.407 14.6 7.8
Quartz Hexagonal 4.913 5.405 9.2 17.8
lllite M onoclinic 5.190 20.160 15.4 95.1
Chlorite M onoclinic 5.320 14.290 18.3 56.1
Calcite Hexagonal 4.989 17.062 10.9 71.7
Gypsum Monoclinic 5.680 6.510 16.3 18.8
Talc Monoclinic 5.287 18.964 17.5 88.0
Albite Triclinic 8.144 7.160 81.0 41.7
fl I

* Basal Misfit = a - a 0 + Prism Misfit = 1 }1 a - a0 1

a0 ~tl~l" '
a 0 and c o denotelattice parameters of ice.

It is found from the comparison of the integrated intensities (x-ray diffraction results)
that almost comparable amounts of calcite and albite, except quartz, are present in the air
over Lahore. The highest amount of quartz, which is cmparable to the same phase in the cor-
responding soil sample, is found to be present in the SPM sample from region 2. This amount
of quartz appears to be roughly an order of magnitude more than in the SPM sample from
region 8. It is therefore evident that the city centre region 2 is a highly dusty region in Lahore,
whereas the suburban agricultural region 8 is relatively cleaner. The SPM of the latter region
does not contain albite. Region 2 is the busiest part of the city; there is a huge local and
intercity traffic which runs on the roads in the region almost day and night. The other regions
arranged in the order with decreasing amount of dust particles are regions 6, 5, 4, 3, 1, and 7.
 184 Advances in Atmospheric Sciences Vol.7

Here although region 6 is suburban commercial / residential, its main road drives huge vehic-
ular traffic and consequently the region is a dusty one.
The integrated intensities of some of the phases, namely, quartz, calcite and albite, for
their maximum intensity reflections, are plotted in Figure 2 for all the dust and soil sample
pairs. No correlation is found between the same phase / compound in the SPM and the corre-
sponding soil sample. If the amount of a phase, say, quartz, is large in a soil sample, its
amount in the corresponding SPM sample is not necessarily large.
In addition to kaolinite, illite, chlorite, quartz, calcite, and albite, gypsum and talc are al-
so present in some soil and SPM samples as minor constituents.
As stated earlier, the present study was carried out in the dry months of May and June.
Kaolinite, illite, chlorite, quartz, calcite and albite are the major constituents of airborne dust
matter. A similar study carried out in Japan (Fukasawa et al, 1984) reports presence of
non-clay minerals, namely, quartz, calcite and albite in the SPM samples collected in both
dry and wet days. These non-clay minerals therefore, should behave as pollutants. A possible
explanation of this situation could be the following.
It is well established now that airborne hydrophobic mineral particles suspended in the
troposphere could promote nucleation of ice. There are many factors that decide on the
nucleability of a hydrophobic particle. The major factors are the size of the particle, tempera-
ture and relative humidity in the environment of the particle and misfit between the
parameters of the ice and the phase to which the particle belongs. The larger the lattice misfit
between the ice and the subtrate the less efficient is the particle as an ice nucleus. If the lattice
misfit is minimum the particle could behave as an efficient nucleus provided the size of the
particle, temperature and relative humidity in its environment are suitable for nucleation to
proceed. It is thought that a certain number of dislocations appear across the interface be-
tween the ice nucleating particle and the ice embryo due to the lattice misfit. In general, an in-
crease in the concentrations of dislocations will rise the interfacial energy between the ice em-
bryos and the nucleating particle and thus decrease the nucleability of the particle. A majority
of the minerals identified in the present study have large values of lattice misfit (Table 4) and
they are poor ice nuclei. Kaolintie has a lower value of misfit and should therefore be a better
ice nucleus. Roberts and Hailer (1968) tested ice nucleability of a number of minerals in-
cluding kaolintie, gypsum and talc and found a majority of them as poor ice nuclei except
kaolinite (Table 5). Since kaolinite is capable of promoting ice phase in cold clouds, it can fall
out from the troposphere in precipitation. The other mineral particulates and particularly
quartz, calcite and albite, which are poor ice nuclei, could remain suspended in the atmos-
phere for long periods of time depending on their size. Such particles therefore add to the pol-
lution levels of the troposphere.
Table 5. lee Nucleability of Some Minerals

Ice Nucleation
Surface Threshold Temperature (~ Minimum Super-saturation
1:104 (Particles) 1:102 Particles over Ice (%)

Kaolinite -10.5 -15.0 20

Gypsum - 16.0 -21.0 20
Galcite - 18.0 -20.0 20

After Roberts and Hallett (1968) with some modifications.

No.2 K.Hussain, R u b y R i f f a t a n d A . S h a u k a t et al., 185

IV. FINAL REMARKS AND CONCLUSIONS

T h e S P M samples collected f r o m v a r i o u s city centre a n d s u b u r b a n l o c a t i o n s i n L a h o r e

show t h a t they c o n t a i n steadily the c o m p o u n d s , n a m e l y , q u a r t z , calcite a n d albite as p o l l u t i o n
c o m p o n e n t s . T h e city centre sites have m o r e a m o u n t s o f q u a r t z t h a n the s u b u r b a n sites. T h e
sources o f these m i n e r a l s are b o t h local a n d remote.
T h e a p p r o x i m a t e size r a n g e o f the d u s t particles is f r o m a b o u t 1 /zm to a b o u t 10 # m .
Such particles r e m a i n s u s p e n d e d in the a t m o s p h e r e for l o n g p e r i o d s o f times b e c a u s e they are
n o t efficient nuclei o f ice. T h e particles are therefore i n h a l a b l e a n d c o u l d c a u s e serious h e a l t h
hazards.

The authors are thankful to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions and comments.

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