Muhayatun Santoso
Title: Nuclear Technology and Its Application to Particulate Pollution Characterization
Muhayatun Santoso is an expert in air quality, especially in the utilization of nuclear analytical techniques such as neutron activation analysis, ion beam analysis and x-ray fluorescence. She has experience as a consultant in several pollution problems in Indonesia and has national wide collaborations with local environmental protection agencies. She has research activities in the national, regional and international scale of research projects. In the national scale, she is a principal investigator in Indonesian cities air quality monitoring and source identification through applying nuclear analytical techniques. For regional research, she is a national representative of Indonesia for IAEA project for the identification of source pollution in the Asian region, while in international research, she is a principal investigator in a research contract with International Atomic Energy Agency.
Abstract:
Urbanization and industrial growth are the main causes of air pollution which is a serious threat to human health. To design an appropriate air quality management requires the identification of sources of air pollution quantitatively. The selective and sensitive nuclear analysis technique (NATs) is a very suitable method for multi-elemental characterization of air particulates. This method has been applied to assess air quality in 17 urban areas in Indonesia including Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku, and Papua Islands. Particle samples in the PM2.5 and PM2.5-10 ranges have been collected using Gent stacked filter units, once a week for 24 hrs. since 2014. More than 7000 samples have been collected. The results showed that the majority of PM2.5 annual concentrations in 7 sites on the islands of Java as Indonesia’s most populous island had exceeded Indonesia’s annual standard (15 µg/m3), whereas in general PM10 was lower than the daily standard (150 µg/m3). The average BC fraction at PM2.5 ranged from 15 to 26%. The distribution of the concentrations of the main elements in PM2.5 varied widely from one site to another. The results obtained show that for sites around the industrial area the level of lead and several other heavy metals at PM2.5 was significantly higher (tens of times) compared to other sites. The chemical composition obtained from this research can then be used to identify source apportionment. Ambient air quality during volcanic eruptions and forest fires will also be discussed comprehensively. The results obtained from this study provide very important information as an early warning and scientific research-based references to avoid greater financial losses and human health impacts. Better solutions and appropriate actions should be taken into this matter.
Keywords: nuclear analytical techniques, PM2.5, BC, Indonesia