Particulate matter study at residential and educational areas in Shah Alam, Malaysia

Air pollution has become a crucial problem nowadays, especially on particulate matter. Major sources of particulate matter came from transportation, while wind speed, temperature and other factors can contribute to this problem. This research focuses on the determination of levels of particulate matter at residential and educational areas in Shah Alam. Two (2) sites were chosen, namely Flat Nilam Sari that represented the residential areas while University of Selangor represented the educational areas. Four (4) sets of levels of particulate matter and other parameters (traffic volume, temperature and wind speed) were obtained by using Dylos DC1700 Laser Particle Counters and Mini Thermo-Anemometer respectively. The results obtained showed that the particulate matters (PM 2.5 and PM 10 ) at both study areas are below permissible limits required by Malaysian Ambient Air Quality Guidelines (MAAQS). However, the Air Quality Indexes of PM2.5 at both study areas shows that the AQI readings are categorized as unhealthy. The highest AQI reading was 159, which was recorded at residential area. In most cases, the results revealed that particulate matter produced by traffic vehicles has significant correlation with the increase of travelled particles. From the correlation analysis, both study areas have significant correlation of PM2.5 with medium vehicles while the educational area has correlation with all types of heavy, medium and small vehicles.