Recreational atmospheric pollution episodes: Inhalable metalliferous particles from firework displays

Abstract

The use of fireworks creates an unusual and distinctive anthropogenic atmospheric pollution event. We report on aerosol samples collected during Las Fallas in Valencia, a 6-day celebration famous for its firework displays, and add comparative data on firework-and bonfirecontaminated atmospheric aerosol samples collected from elsewhere in Spain (Barcelona, L´Alcora and Borriana) and during the Guy Fawkes celebrations in London. Specific highprofile official firework events during Las Fallas, included the afternoon Mascletà and the nightly aerial displays (especially in the climactic final two days of the fiesta) and were accompanied by pollution spikes in suspended particles, NO, SO2, and the creation and dispersal of an aerosol cloud enriched in a range of metallic elements. Notable metal aerosol concentration increases recorded during Las Fallas were: potassium (from 500 to 5900 ng/m 3), aluminium (as Al2O3: from around 600 to 2200 ng/m 3), titanium (from 200 to 700 ng/m 3), magnesium (from 100 to 500 ng/m 3), lead (from 17 to 379 ng/m 3), barium (from 39 to 322 ng/m 3), strontium (from 3 to 112 ng/m 3), copper (from 12 to 71 ng/m 3), and antimony

High-time resolution and size-segregated elemental composition in high-intensity pyrotechnic exposures

“…It is to be noted that these metals are dangerous elements because of their toxicity, especially As and Pb [41,42], and their use in pyrotechnic devices are forbidden by law in the European Union. Nevertheless, as stated in the bibliography [3], pyrotechnic materials can be imported from countries with more permissive legislation resulting in sporadic atmospheric toxic discharge as we observed in our study. In our case, in some mascletàs, As and Pb reached concentrations of up to 0.17 and 5 g/m 3 respectively, two and three orders of magnitude above background levels.…”

“…Most of these published studies were carried out from pre-event to post-event pyrotechnic performances in order to evaluate urban background air quality variations usually within an hourly or daily time resolution. As a general conclusion, firework displays give rise to large (up to hundreds of g/m 3 ) but transitory (up to hours or days) increases of urban atmospheric particulate matter mean levels, especially metalliferous particles (K, Mg, Ba, Cu, Sr, Al, Pb) [4]. For example, in the Indian Diwali festival, 24 h-average concentration of PM 10 increased up to 5.7 times with respect to a normal day [7,8]; during the Lantern festival in China the rise of PM 2.5 was over 6 times the usual daily level [9]; in the Summer solstice feast in Girona (Spain) PM 2.5 daily local background doubled, from 13 g/m 3 to 25 g/m 3 , multiplying by a factor ranging from 2 to 86 the concentrations of metals and metalloids typically emitted from fireworks [10].…”

“…The concentration of Sr and Ba found in the generated mascletà plume is not constant for each festival day because, as already mentioned, the composition of the released particulate matter depends on specific type of pyrotechnic device used. For example, during the 23rd June mascletà, there were a small contribution to fine fraction from Sr and negligible from Ba, while in the next day Sr and Ba concentrations increased up to 16 It is should be stressed that the average mass concentration of all the reported elements (except S, Cl and K) in the fine fraction during mascletà was about 17 g/m 3 and reached values as high as 34 g/m 3 , to be compared to a value of 0.03 g/m 3 during the background period. In Fig.…”

“…Potassium and chlorine exhibit the highest levels (384 g/m 3 and 216 g/m 3 , respectively) and relative increases since background concentrations are multiplied by a factor higher than 1500 during these events. The concentrations of other elements related to pyrotechnic displays, like Sr, Al, Mg, Ba, Cu, Co, Zn, and Pb, are also extremely high during the mascletàs.…”

“…In the last few years several research studies have been published in literature reporting on urban airborne particles data related to worldwide popular pyrotechnic events, such as New Year's Eve [1], national festivities [2,3], sporting championship celebrations [4], and light festivals [5,6]. Most of these published studies were carried out from pre-event to post-event pyrotechnic performances in order to evaluate urban background air quality variations usually within an hourly or daily time resolution.…”