Determination of anthropogenic and biogenic compounds on atmospheric aerosol collected in urban, biomass burning and forest areas in São Paulo, Brazil

Cashew nut roasting: Chemical characterization of particulate matter and genotocixity analysis

“…Retene has been proposed as a tracer for conifer combustion sources (Ramdahl, 1983) and abundant amounts of phenanthrene, fluoranthene and pyrene have been found in biomass burning smoke (Simoneit, 2002;Vasconcellos et al, 2010). These PAHs were also identified in our samples.…”

“…It indicates the health risk for humans with respect to ambient PAH exposition and is calculated by multiplying the concentrations of each carcinogenic congener (Vasconcellos et al, 2010). The average BaPE value at the Amarelão community (1.94) was similar to that found by Vasconcellos et al (2010) for sugar cane burning (2.1) and São Paulo City (1.9).…”

“…Quantitative and qualitative analyses were carried out by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Agilent 7820A þ 5975 MSD). A 1 mL sample was injected in splitless mode (Vasconcellos et al, 2010). Benzo(a)pyrene-equivalent carcinogenic power (BaPE) was calculated using the formula provided by Yassaa et al (2001), as follows:…”

“…These particles are related to genotoxic events, an increase in the number of hospitalizations and ambulatory visits, and mortality from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases (Alves et al, 2011;André et al, 2012;De Oliveira et al, 2012;Da Silva et al, 2012). The organic fraction of PM has recently caused significant environmental concern due to the high mutagenic and carcinogenic potential displayed by its components (Vasconcellos et al, 2010). Data on the composition of PM smoke are important in order to understand the organic component contributions of biomass burning emissions to atmospheric chemistry, in addition to complementing existing research on the characterization of direct (natural) organic emissions from biomass sources (Simoneit, 2002).…”

Structural signatures of water-soluble organic aerosols in contrasting environments in South America and Western Europe

“…On the other hand, comprehensive structural identification within the complex aerosol WSOC mixture has been rarely reported for Southern Hemisphere locations. Most field studies within this region have included measurements of ambient concentrations of OC, elemental carbon (EC), and WSOC, specific organic markers (e.g., n-alkanes, PAHs, and levoglucosan), or the amount of hydrocarbon-like and oxygenated OA components [e.g., in Brisbane (Australia), Tanzania (rural background site), São Paulo (Brazil), Rondônia (Amazon Basin, Brazil), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Bogota (Colombia), and Santiago (Chile)] Mayol-Bracero et al, 2002;Tagliavini et al, 2006;Vasconcellos et al, 2010Vasconcellos et al, , 2011Mkoma and Kawamura, 2013;Crilley et al, 2014;Souza et al, 2014;De Oliveira Alves et al, 2015;Villalobos et al, 2015). Although these studies have provided a glimpse into the bulk chemical makeup of OA, the current understanding of the role of aerosol WSOC in global climate change still is incomplete.…”