Direct determination of cadmium and lead in aerosols in the Zasavje region in Slovenia employing electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

Investigations of air pollution were carried out in Trbovlje, Zagorje and Hrastnik, three towns in the Zasavje urban region in Slovenia with its dense industry. This region has a typical geographic location in small, closed side valleys of the Sava river. Special pumps were equipped with a Nucleopore-Costar polycarbonate membrane filters (pore size 0.4 ĵ m) to determine cadmium and lead in respirable (<2.5 urn) and inhalable (2.5-10 jam) aerosols. These two elements were measured continuously for two years. Filters were collected every 10 days. Cadmium and lead were measured in those filters employing slurry electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry technique. The results of two year study indicated that cadmium and lead prevailed in the smaller (<2.5 pm), respirable particles of aerosols. The concentrations of these two elements were found to be higher during the heating seasons. The degree of pollution was in general similar to other urban industrial sites in Europe but higher than in unpolluted sites in Slovenia and world-wide.