Abstract

There are two sampling approaches for noting the presence of air pollutants, Source sampling and Atmospheric sampling. The source sampling obtains the pollutant count of a particulate source, whereas atmospheric sampling deals with the pollutants within the total air mass surrounding the earth. The purpose of source sampling is to determine the quantity and type of pollutants emitted from a specific source to determine compliance or non compliance with an emission standard. Sawdust particulate matter captured from nine different locations of Benin metropolis, Nigeria, using a portable, programmable SKC Air Check XR5000 high volume Gravimetric Sampler Model 210-5000 serial No. 20537. A flow rate of 21/ min and a sampling duration of eight hours maintained during this study which was conducted between the months of November 2009 to January, 2010. The total suspended particulate (TSP) were in the range of 833.33 - 1,666.56 obtained indicate that the available national Standard, 250 µg/m³ were clearly exceeded. The spatial variation in data generated was significant and remarkable (p < 0.05).

Key words: Total suspended particulate, sawmill, Benin City, gravimetric sampler, toxicity potential.