Carbonaceous component of Total Suspended Particulate (TSP) in Makassar City, Sulawesi Island, Indonesia

Abstract

As the initial study related to carbonaceous components in Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, total suspended particulate matter (TSP) was collected in the roadside environments in Makassar city, Indonesia. The mean TSP level in this study was higher than the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) of Indonesia and much higher than World Health Organization (WHO) standards. It ranged from 21.6 to 838.6 μg/m3. The lowest concentration was found during the rainy days in paved site. The highest TSP level in all sites was found in the rush morning and late noon hour. It is related to the movement of the citizens during those periods of time. Regardless of the sites and times of sampling, organic carbon (OC) is the main fraction of total carbon (TC) for around 62.2 - 84.0%. OC and EC had well correlation indicating both carbonaceous components were emitted from the common sources. It might be emitted from the traffic emission as seen from the greater correlation between TSP and soot-EC than between TSP vs. char-EC. Hence, exhaust emissions from traffic and non-exhaust emission during the movement of vehicles should be the two main sources of TSP and its carbon components in the roadside environment of Makassar city, Sulawesi Island, Indonesia.