Determination on rare earth level in air

  Objective   To study the effect of rare earth concentration on living environmental air by rare earth mining.Air concentration of rare earth was measured.

  Methods   To collect air dust in rare earth mining area and nonmine vallades and use ICP-MS to measure rare earth concentration.

  Results   The rare earth concentration in total suspended par ticulates (TSP)indoor and outdoor were 800.0 and 359.1 ng/m³ respectively in rare earth mining area; 67.9 and 86.6 ng/m³ respectively in non-rare earch mining area; the rare earth concentration in inhalable particles(IP)indoor and outdoor were 905.1 and 612.5 ng/m³ respectively in rare earth mining area, 276.7 and 328.1 ng/m³ respectively in non-rare earth mining area.

  Conclusion   Concentr ation of air rare earth in rare earth mining was much higher than that of in non-rare earth mining area, the examination of air rare earth concentration was one of important contents for researching effect on health.