Title: Sources of particulate matter: emission profile of biomass burning

Authors: Simone Andrea Pozza, Ricardo Luiz Bruno, Mariane Giroto Tazinassi, Jose Antonio Silveira Goncalves, Virgilio F. Do Nascimento Filho, Marco Antonio Souza Barrozo, Jose Renato Coury

Addresses: Department of Chemical Engineering, Sao Carlos Federal University, Sao Carlos, Brazil. ' Department of Chemical Engineering, Sao Carlos Federal University, Sao Carlos, Brazil. ' Department of Chemical Engineering, Sao Carlos Federal University, Sao Carlos, Brazil. ' Department of Chemical Engineering, Sao Carlos Federal University, Sao Carlos, Brazil. ' Institute for Nuclear Energy Applied to Agriculture, University of Sao Paulo, Piracicaba, Brazil. ' Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Uberlandia Federal University, Uberlandia, Brazil. ' Department of Chemical Engineering, Sao Carlos Federal University, Sao Carlos, Brazil

Abstract: Biomass burning is an important source of atmospheric Particulate Matter (PM) in Brazil: the burning of forests in the northwest and of sugar cane plantations in the southeast are important examples. The objective of this work is the measurement of the PM emission profile of burning of sugar cane and other characteristic vegetative burning in the region of Sao Carlos-SP/Brazil. Samples of PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 were collected in different conditions, including small laboratory controlled burnings and real ones. The samples were analysed by X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) and 14 chemical elements quantified. t-Student tests were performed to compare the obtained profiles, using as a reference a vegetative burn profile taken from the USEPA data bank SPECIATE. All measured profiles presented significant amounts of Cl and K, which are confirmed as tracers of sugar cane foliage burning.

Keywords: emission profiles; aerosols; biomass burning; air pollution; air quality; particulate matter; Brazil; forest burning; sugar cane burning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2009.021832

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2009 Vol.36 No.1/2/3, pp.276 - 286

Published online: 05 Dec 2008 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article