Abstract
The growing concern about air quality in harbours is a result of the high impact of the operations on human health and environment. Harbour activities such loading, unloading and transport of dusty materials are important emission sources of Atmospheric particulate matter (APM). The assessment of these fugitive emissions is a difficult task because they depend on the materials, the type of operation and the meteorological scenarios. The main objectives of this work were (1) to evaluate if the techniques k0-based Instrumental neutron activation analysis (k0-INAA) and Particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE) are suitable techniques to assess fugitive emissions in harbours and (2) to estimate the impact of harbour activities on APM levels and composition. Several experimental campaigns were carried out in a Portuguese harbour, during unloading operations of fertilizer and phosphorite provided from Syria and Morocco. PM2.5 and PM2.5–10 were collected, in polycarbonate filters, by Gent samplers. The techniques k0-INAA and PIXE were applied as sensitive analytical tools to perform a complete chemical characterization of the collected samples. Results showed that manipulation of these materials during harbour operations resulted in high emissions of particles, principally from the coarse fraction. These emissions were very affected by the granulometry and nature of the handled materials. Fertilizer emissions were characterized by high concentration of Ca, P, K, Cr, Br and Zn, whereas phosphorite handling contributed principally for the increase of Ca, P and Cr levels.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Moreno N, Alastuey A, Querol X, Artinano B, Guerra A, Luaces JA, Lorente A, Basora J (2002) Atmos Environ 41:6331–6343
Antó JM, Sunyer J, Rodriguez-Roisin R, Suarez-Cervera M, Vazquez L (1989) N Engl J Med 320:1097–1102
Ballester F, Soriano JB, Otero I, Rivera ML, Sunyer J, Merelles A, Verea H, Marin J, Anto JM (1999) Am J Epidemiol 149:315–322
Almeida SM, Reis MA, Freitas MC, Pio CA (2003) Nucl Instrum Methods B 207:434–446
Almeida SM, Freitas MC, Reis MA, Pio CA, Trancoso MA (2006) Nucl Instrum Methods A 564:752–760
Almeida SM, Freitas MC, Pio CA (2008) J Radioanal Nucl Chem 276:161–165
Almeida SM, Canha N, Silva A, Freitas MC, Pegas P, Alves C, Evtyugina M, Pio CA (2010) Atmos Environ. doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2010.11.052
Canha N, Freitas MC, Almeida SM, Almeida M, Ribeiro M, Galinha C, HTh Wolterbeek (2010) J Radioanal Nucl Chem 286:495–500
Almeida SM, Félix PM, Franco C, Freitas MC, Alves LC, Pinheiro T (2010) Nucl Instrum Methods A 622:453–455
Almeida SM, Félix PM, Franco C, Freitas MC, Alves LC, Pinheiro T (2010) Int J Environ Health 4:293–304
Maenhaut W (1992) The Gent stacked filter unit (SFU) sampler for the collection of atmospheric aerosols in two size fractions: description and instructions for installation and use, IAEA CRP E4.10.08, Belgium
Johansson SAE, Campbell JL, Malmqvist KG (1995) Particle-induced X-ray emission spectrometry (PIXE). Wiley, New York
Cornelis R, Hoste J, Speecke A, Vandecasteele C, Versieck J, Gijbels R (1976) Activation analysis—Part 2. In: West TS (ed) Physical chemistry, series two, analytical chemistry—Part I, vol 12. Butterworth, London, p 137
De Corte F (1987) The k0-standardization method—a move to the optimization of neutron activation analysis, Agregé thesis, University of Ghent, Belgium
Acknowledgement
We gratefully acknowledge Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) for funding S.M. Almeida by Ciencia 2007 programme and the project PTDC/AAC-AMB/098825/2008-PMfugitive—Mitigating the environmental and health impacts of particles from fugitive emissions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Almeida, S.M., Silva, A.V., Freitas, M.C. et al. Characterization of dust material emitted during harbour activities by k0-INAA and PIXE. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 291, 77–82 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-011-1279-4
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-011-1279-4