Influence of Different Heating Systems on the Bioavailable Fractions of Some Elements in House Dust

This study aims at investigating the influence of different heating systems generally used in Jordan on the levels of metal inorganic pollutants in house dust. Fifty samples from different houses in a rural region in Ajlune governorate (Jordan) were collected using commercial vacuum cleaners. All samples were sequentially extracted using the standard BCR (Community Bureau of Reference) procedure and analyzed by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) for Al, As, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, P, Pb, Sr, V, Ti and Zn. The results indicated that dust samples collected from houses using wood and/or olive residue for heating contain highest concentrations of all elements as compared to all other heating systems. Levels of measured elements in different samples were in the following order; wood/olive residue samples > kerosene samples > natural gas samples > central heating samples > reference samples. In general, the speciation patterns obtained for the measured elements in the different samples are quite different. Most of Pb, Zn, Cd and Cu are tied up in carbonate phases. Ni was mostly tied up in organic phases, while Al, V, Mn and Cr were mostly associated with the residual fraction.