Assessment of environmental contamination risk by Pt, Rh and Pd from automobile catalyst

The main active components of present-day car catalysts are the noble metal s Pt, Pd and Rh, belonging to the platinum group elements (PGEs). It is rec ognized that these elements are being spread into the environment to an as- yet incompletely known extent, mainly due to surface abrasion of the cataly st during car operation. These new pollutants have motivated extensive rese arch on PGE determination. Our work is planned to ascertain the health and ecosystem risks of these PGEs emitted through a series of interrelated obje ctives that address the pathway of these elements from the catalyst to the different environmental compartments: Combined studies of catalyst surface abrasion and exhaust fumes analysis, the monitoring of Pt, Pd and Rh in air borne particles and road dust sediments and bioaccumulation studies in aqua tic organisms, plants and urine enable a realistic assessment of the risk t hat this release represents for man and environment. In this work some prev ious results are presented. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reser ved.