Study of main and signature sources of particulate matter pollutants in Limeira City (Brazil) using SR‐TXRF

Abstract

The study's objective was to identify the main generating sources of particulate matter from the Limeira City (SP), Brazil. Particulate matter collections were carried out at the meteorological station of the Technology Department of Campinas State University by using a sequential filtration sampling system. Using synchrotron radiation total reflection X-ray fluorescence makes it possible to perform quality quantitative analysis of the particulate matter collected during the years 2008 and 2009. Respirable particulate matter's coarse and fine fractions that affect the upper and lower respiratory tract were collected on polycarbonate filters arranged in series. At the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory, samples were analyzed by synchrotron radiation total reflection X-ray fluorescence after removal from acid. Results indicated that the coarse fraction made the greatest contribution to PM 10 formation. As per the particulate matter composition, 16 elements were found in both fractions: S, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Br, Rb, Sr, Ba, and Pb. The determination of the probable emission sources contributing to the formation of particulate material was possible by applying multivariate statistical analyses, namely principal components analysis and cluster analysis. The primary emission source for the coarse fraction was soil dust, which contributed 57%, followed by 30% from vehicular emissions, and lastly, only 13% from industrial emissions. The primary emission source for the fine fraction was soil dust, which contributed 79%, followed by 13% from vehicular emissions, and lastly, only 8% from industrial emissions. Figure 7. Vehicle emissions profile obtained in the city of Limeira compared with those obtained for the cities of Santiago, Chile, [25] and São Paulo [16] ; the Campinas urban center, Paulinia, and Barão Geraldo [15] ; and with the signature for diesel and gasoline vehicles obtained by Mason. [23] Signature sources of particulate matter pollutants X-Ray Spectrom. 2013, 42, 290-298

Elemental Composition of Particulate Matter in the Southeastern Brazilian Ceramic Pole by Synchrotron Radiation X-ray Fluorescence Technique (SR-XRF)

“…The heterogeneity of the particle distribution on each filter is expressed by the relative standard deviation of the results from the measurement of the three different positions of the filter. The arithmetic mean of this relative standard deviation for the elements Si, S, K, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu and Zn were 17 29,31,56 and of other South American regions (Santiago, Chile; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Córdoba, Argentina), 27,48,57 nearly all elemental concentrations in PM 10 and PM 2.5 of the present work show significantly lower values than the concentrations obtained in the mentioned studies. The PM sampling for these studies were all realized downtown in cities with a much higher population and thus higher volume of traffic than the city of Rio Claro.…”

“…PCA is a widely used tool in air pollution studies for realizing source apportionment of PM. 29,31,48 All statistical tests in this work were performed by BioEstat 5.3. 49…”

“…Until now, the SR-XRF technique has not been extensively used for analysis of PM as there are limited numbers of synchrotron facilities in the world, though the technique has been proven to be very useful in the characterization of the elemental composition of PM. 27,[29][30][31] The Environmental State Company of São Paulo (CETESB) established standard values for air quality in a sampling time of 24 h as 120 and 60 μg m -3 for PM 10 and PM 2.5 , respectively. Furthermore, the standard value for the annual arithmetic mean value of PM 10 and PM 2.5 is 40 and 20 μg m -3 , respectively.…”

“…[33][34][35] A few studies were realized monitoring air pollution by SR-TXRF in the region of Rio Claro and Santa Gertrudes. SR-TXRF followed by principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis were furthermore used in the study of Canteras et al 31 to identify main sources of PM in Limeira (SP), a city about 25 km away from Rio Claro.…”

Elemental characterization and source identification of the near‐road PM2.5 using EDXRF in Chengdu, China

“…Factor 2 was connected with biomass and coal burning activities. It was extracted explaining 26.5% PM 2.5 samples with high loadings of S and As, together with moderate loading of K. S mainly derives from secondary aerosol sources such as fuel combustion and sugar cane burning . Generally, As is used as a marker for coal combustion .…”