Heavy Metal Concentrations in Ceiling Fan and Roadside Car park Dust Collected from Residential Colleges in Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor

In this study, dust samples were collected from 4 residential colleges (K2, K5, KOSAS and K10) in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Serdang, Selangor. The samples were collected from ceiling fans and car parks roadside dust. Sand dust on top of the car park cover were collected using polyethylene brush, tray and kept in a polyethylene bag. Dust from ceiling fan on the first floor was collected and put into a polyethylene bag. The dust samples collected were analysed for the concentrations of Cd, Cu, Fe, Ni and Zn. It was found that K5 [Cu (62.94 ± 0.77 µg/g dw), Fe (1802.40 ± 9.81 µg/g dw), and Zn (253.34 ± 22.76 µg/g dw) of car park dust; Zn (997.20 ± 16.10 µg/g dw) (of ceiling fan dust] and K10 [Ni (26.88 ± 1.84 µg/g dw) and Zn (199.77 ± 6.64 µg/g dw) of car park dust; Cu (468.55 ± 3.67 µg/g dw), Ni (83.96 ± 0.75 µg/g dw), and Fe (3131.58 ± 27.01 µg/g dw) of ceiling fan dust] exhibited elevated concentrations of heavy metals that might be related to vehicular activities as compared to K2 and KOSAS. In general, ceiling fan dust had significantly (P 0.05) higher concentrations of heavy metals than the car park dust. In comparison to other reported studies in the literature, the maximum levels of Ni and Cu were comparable or higher than those reported for major cities in the world. Hence, more monitoring studies should be conducted in the future to check for metal contamination in the dust, as this can serve as an atmospheric indicator of heavy metal pollution