High air pollution episodes in most urban areas in Macedonia fill the headlines in
recent years, reinforcing public perception that polluted air is by far most important
environmental and health problem that urban population face nowadays. Ambient pollutants
concentrations often reach dramatic levels triggering warnings and action plans that are mostly
based on personal exposure reduction and hopes for changes in weather conditions, thus leaving
public disappointed and confused. Recent studies show that traffic, domestic heating, natural
dust and industrial activities are the main sources of PM contributing to urban pollution in
European cities. However, there are significant differences between sources and the components
of urban AP in different cities. While domestic heating (biomass burning) dominates the
contributions to PM in Eastern Europe and in many developing countries, sea salt is the most
important (natural) source of PM10 in north-western Europe. Therefore, detailed
characterization (determination of size, form and chemical composition) of suspended air
particulates is of crucial importance for definition of possible adverse health effects, sources
allocation and applicable control measures.
During the last two years (2018-2019), AMBICON team has collected and analysed suspended
particulate matters from specific urban zones throughout the country. Samples were taken
according to standard gravimetric method (EN 12341:2014) using a low volume sampler and 47
mm PTFE filters. Chemical composition was determined using Fluorescent X-ray Spectrometer
(Shimadzu EDX-900HS) according to EPA/625/R-96/010a. Seasonal and diurnal variation were
obtained from MOEPP Air Quality Portal, as much as from AMBICON independent monitoring
network with in house developed ambient particulate monitors.
The results demonstrate clear domination of biomass burning as primary contributor with much
smaller contribution of traffic, industrial and crustal matter sources.
Keywords: Particulates, Concertation, Patterns, PMF, Contributio
