Organic aerosols in a Brazilian agro-industrial area: Speciation and impact of biomass burning

Autor(es)

Urban, R. C. ; Alves, C. A. ; Allen, A. G. ; Cardoso, A. A. ; Campos, M. L. A. M.

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH; v. 169, p. 9-pg., 2016-03-01.

Resumo

This work presents the first comprehensive organic characterization of atmospheric aerosols from an agro-industrial region (Sao Paulo State, Brazil) highly impacted by biomass burning. The organic speciation was performed using different solvents of increasing polarity, enabling the identification and quantification of 172 different organic species by GC MS. The mass of organic compounds reached 123 mu g M-3 in an aerosol sample collected during the sugar cane harvest period compared with 0.82 mu g M-3 in the non-harvest period. The samples most impacted by biomass burning were those with the highest percentages of non-polar compounds (n-alkanes; up to 96%). However, in absolute terms, the total mass of polar compounds in such samples was greater than for samples less impacted by this activity. Retene (a marker for biomass combustion) was the most abundant of the 19 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons quantified, corresponding to 14%-84%. This work shows that biomass burning was responsible for a benzo(a)pyrene equivalent index value that exceeded the recommendation of the World Health Organization. Principal component analysis indicated that agricultural biomass burning and emissions from crop processing facilities explained 42% of the variance of the data, while 37% was explained by urban emissions, 10% by vehicle emissions, and 10% by biogenic sources. This study provides insights into the emissions of a suite of organic compounds that could participate in anthropic alteration of regional cloud formation and precipitation patterns. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 10/50236-2 - A utilização de levoglucosan como marcador de queima de biomassa no material particulado de uma região canavieira do estado de São Paulo
• Beneficiário: Roberta Cerasi Urban
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Doutorado
• Processo FAPESP: 08/58073-5 - Effects of emissions on current and future rainfall patterns in southeast Brazil
• Beneficiário: Arnaldo Alves Cardoso
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa de Pesquisa sobre Mudanças Climáticas Globais - Temático