Atmospheric emissions of particulate matter-bound heavy metals from industrial sources

Although industrial activities are significant contributors to atmospheric releases of particulate matter (PM) and associated toxic substances that lead to adverse human health effects, a knowledge gap exists concerning the human health risk resulting from such activities owing to lack of evaluation of industrial emissions. Here, we comprehensively characterized and quantified PM from 118 full-scale industrial plants. The dominant (97.9 %) PM showed diameters of <2.5 μm; 79.0 % had diameters below 1 μm. Annual atmospheric releases of Fe and heavy metals (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn) contained in fine PM from these global industrial activities are estimated to be 51,161 t and 69,591 t, respectively. Emissions of heavy metals from these industries cause increased cancer risk, estimated to range from 1461 % to 50,752 %. Five crystalline compounds (ZnO, PbSO