The aerosol produced by agricultural operations has significant contribution to the atmospheric aerosol loadings and, therefore, its impacts on visibility, climate forcing and human health should be considered. This work shows the chemical and mineralogical composition of agricultural aerosols produced during wheat harvest threshing, ploughing and wheat seeding as a function of size. The sampling was carried out on 25 June 2009 for wheat harvest threshing, on 7 and 8 October 2009 for ploughing and on 17 November 2009 for wheat seeding, near Comacchio Valleys (44 ˚ 36' 40.79" N - 12˚ 04' 10:52'' E,-1m), in Po valley in the north east of Italy, close to the sea. The aerosol was sampled with an 9-stage Andersen-Marple impactor with a quartz fiber filter SKC 225-1826 1.2μm R-100, and with a modified Millipore Swinnex 47 Polypropylene holder with a quartz fiber filter Pallflex® Air Monitoring Filters Tissuquartz™ 2500 QAT-UP, within the dust plume generated by the agricultural machines. The chemical composition of sampled aerosol was extracted from the filter and analyzed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) (X Series spectrometer from Thermo Electron Corporation collision/reaction cell CCTED) (Heal, 2005; Pekney, 2005). The analyses show that the aerosol chemical composition released during wheat harvest threshing, ploughing and wheat seeding operations is similar with soil composition (Fig. 1). The surface morphology of sampled aerosol particles studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) (CARL-ZEISS EVO 40) shows the presence of fungal spores, bacteria, pollens, fragments of plants, etc.
Chemical and mineralogical composition of particulate matter released from agricultural operations
VACCARO, Carmela;
2011
Abstract
The aerosol produced by agricultural operations has significant contribution to the atmospheric aerosol loadings and, therefore, its impacts on visibility, climate forcing and human health should be considered. This work shows the chemical and mineralogical composition of agricultural aerosols produced during wheat harvest threshing, ploughing and wheat seeding as a function of size. The sampling was carried out on 25 June 2009 for wheat harvest threshing, on 7 and 8 October 2009 for ploughing and on 17 November 2009 for wheat seeding, near Comacchio Valleys (44 ˚ 36' 40.79" N - 12˚ 04' 10:52'' E,-1m), in Po valley in the north east of Italy, close to the sea. The aerosol was sampled with an 9-stage Andersen-Marple impactor with a quartz fiber filter SKC 225-1826 1.2μm R-100, and with a modified Millipore Swinnex 47 Polypropylene holder with a quartz fiber filter Pallflex® Air Monitoring Filters Tissuquartz™ 2500 QAT-UP, within the dust plume generated by the agricultural machines. The chemical composition of sampled aerosol was extracted from the filter and analyzed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) (X Series spectrometer from Thermo Electron Corporation collision/reaction cell CCTED) (Heal, 2005; Pekney, 2005). The analyses show that the aerosol chemical composition released during wheat harvest threshing, ploughing and wheat seeding operations is similar with soil composition (Fig. 1). The surface morphology of sampled aerosol particles studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) (CARL-ZEISS EVO 40) shows the presence of fungal spores, bacteria, pollens, fragments of plants, etc.I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
