Lead isotope ratio measurements of airborne particulates using ICP-MS/MS for source attribution Hau Lam Jody Cheong, Emma C. Braysher, Richard J.C. Brown, Andrew S. Brown National Physical Laboratory, UK Heavy metal pollution is a serious environmental problem that affects humans, animals, and other organisms. With the growth of environmental awareness around the globe, monitoring and controlling the levels of heavy metals in airborne particulates has become an important activity. In addition to running the UK Heavy Metals Monitoring Network for the Environment Agency and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for regulatory compliance, NPL has developed isotope ratio measurement methods for airborne particulate samples with the use of tandem inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS/MS) to provide information about the sources of the pollution. Although leaded petrol is banned in the UK and ambient concentrations have subsequently dropped over the past 20 years since this ban, they are still significantly higher than the urban background levels. Gaining knowledge of the source of lead (Pb) in these urban settings will help government to develop better strategies for the abatement of emissions. This work will outline the development and validation of an ICP-MS/MS method for Pb isotope ratio measurements. The ratios between 204 Pb, 206 Pb, 207 Pb and 208 Pb have been studied and different instrument parameters, including the detector settings and interferences removal modes, optimised to ensure measurements of sufficient precision to draw useful conclusions. By comparing ambient particulate samples from a wide range of rural and urban locations throughout the UK with one another and the emission values from the literature, we have been able to make progress towards attributing ambient Pb pollution to specific sources.
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