Mercury emissions from forest burning in southern Amazon

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Soil and biomass mercury emissions during a prescribed fire in the Amazonian rain forest

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Short terms effects of air pollution from biomass burning in mucociliary clearance of Brazilian sugarcane cutters

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Experimental measurements of the NOx and CO concentrations operating in oscillatory and non-oscillatory burning conditions

The effects of combustion driven acoustic oscillations in carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides emission rates of a combustor operated with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) were investigated. Because the fuel does not contain nitrogen, tests were also conducted with ammonia injected in the fuel, in order to study the formation of fuel NOx. The main conclusions were: (a) the pulsating combustion process is more efficient than the non-pulsating one and (b) the pulsating combustion process generates higher rates of NOx, with and without ammonia injection, as shown by CO and NO concentrations as function of the O-2 concentration. An increase in the LPG flow rate, keeping constant the air to fuel ratio, increased the acoustic pressure amplitude and the frequency of oscillation. The injection of ammonia had no influence on either pressure amplitude or frequency. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ecological impacts from syngas burning in internal combustion engine: Technical and economic aspects

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Laboratory evaluation of Amazon forest biomass burning emissions

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Circuit board accident - organizational dimension hidden by prescribed safety

This study analyzes an accident in which two maintenance workers suffered severe burns while replacing a circuit breaker panel in a steel mill, following model of analysis and prevention of accidents (MAPA) developed with the objective of enlarging the perimeter of interventions and contributing to deconstruction of blame attribution practices. The study was based on materials produced by a health service team in an in-depth analysis of the accident. The analysis shows that decisions related to system modernization were taken without considering their implications in maintenance scheduling and creating conflicts of priorities and of interests between production and safety; and also reveals that the lack of a systemic perspective in safety management was its principal failure. To explain the accident as merely non-fulfillment of idealized formal safety rules feeds practices of blame attribution supported by alibi norms and inhibits possible prevention. In contrast, accident analyses undertaken in worker health surveillance services show potential to reveal origins of these events incubated in the history of the system ignored in practices guided by the traditional paradigm.

Chemopreventive activity of compounds extracted from Casearia sylvestris (Salicaceae) Sw against DNA damage induced by particulate matter emitted by sugarcane burning near Araraquara, Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

PM2.5 and PM10: The influence of sugarcane burning on potential cancer risk

In Brazil, sugarcane fields are often burned to facilitate manual harvesting, and this burning causes environmental pollution from the large amounts of soot released into the atmosphere. This material contains numerous organic compounds such as PAHs. In this study, the concentrations of PAHs in two particulate-matter fractions (PM2.5 and PM10) in the city of Araraquara (SE Brazil, with around 200,000 inhabitants and surrounded by sugarcane plantations) were determined during the sugarcane harvest (HV) and non-harvest (NHV) seasons in 2008 and 2009. The sampling strategy included four campaigns, with 60 samples in the NHV season and 220 samples in the HV season. The PM2.5 and PM10 fractions were collected using a dichotomous sampler (10 L min(-1), 24 h) with Teflon (TM) filters. The filter sets were extracted (ultrasonic bath with hexane/acetone (1:1 v/v)) and analyzed by HPLC/Fluorescence. The median concentration for total PAHs (PM2.5 in 2009) was 0.99 ng m(-3) (NHV) and 3.3 ng m(-3) (HV). In the HV season, the total concentration of carcinogenic PAHs (benz(a)anthracene, benzo(b)fluoranthene, benzo(k)fluoranthene, and benzo(a)pyrene) was 5 times higher than in the NHV season. B(a)P median concentrations were 0.017 ng m(-3) and 0.12 ng m(-3) for the NHV and HV seasons, respectively. The potential cancer risk associated with exposure through inhalation of these compounds was estimated based on the benzo[a]pyrene toxic equivalence (BaPeq), where the overall toxicity of a PAR mixture is defined by the concentration of each compound multiplied by its relative toxic equivalence factor (TEF). BaPeq median (2008 and 2009 years) ranged between 0.65 and 1.0 ng m(-3) and 1.2-1.4 ng m(-3) for the NHV and HV seasons, respectively. Considering that the maximum permissible BaPeq in ambient air is 1 ng m(-3), related to the increased carcinogenic risk, our data suggest that the level of human exposure to PAHs in cities surrounded by sugarcane crops where the burning process is used is cause for concern. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Influence of sugarcane burning on indoor/outdoor PAH air pollution in Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Dissolved organic carbon in rainwater from areas heavily impacted by sugar cane burning

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Sugarcane silage production treated with additives at different times post burning

Objetivou-se estudar a ação do tempo após a queima do canavial e o uso de aditivos sobre as características fermentativas, as perdas e a composição química de silagens de cana-de-açúcar. A cultivar utilizada foi a IAC 86-2480 colhida em cinco tempos (1, 4, 7, 10 e 14 dias) pós-queima. Os aditivos utilizados foram controle, sem aditivos, Lactobacillus buchneri, cal virgem micropulverizada e Lactobacillus buchneri + cal virgem micropulverizada. Antes da ensilagem em cada tempo, foram determinadas as populações de leveduras presentes na cana-de-açúcar. Decorridos 56 dias após a ensilagem, os silos experimentais foram abertos. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi o inteiramente casualizado em esquema fatorial, considerando os fatores aditivos e tempo pós-queima. Houve recontaminação da cana-de-açúcar pelas leveduras, elevando a população de 5,04 para 6,48 log ufc/g de forragem. Os teores de matéria seca (MS) após a abertura do silo reduziram em média 7,6 unidades percentuais em comparação aos observados na ensilagem. As silagens controle e com Lactobacillus buchneri tiveram menores recuperações da matéria seca (613 e 631 g/kg, respectivamente), em comparação às observadas nas silagens com cal e com a combinação Lactobacillus buchneri + cal (807 g/kg e 832 g/kg, respectivamente), fato que pode ser justificado pelo controle de levedura pela cal. Após a queima, as maiores variações foram na produção de gás e na recuperação de matéria seca: a produção de gás foi maior nos primeiros dias e diminuiu com o tempo após a queima, consequentemente, a recuperação de MS foi menor nos primeiros dias e aumentou com o tempo após a queima. O tempo após a queima altera o valor nutritivo da cana-de-açúcar fresca e das suas silagens, assim como a magnitude das perdas no processo de ensilagem.

Influence of agricultural biomass burning on aerosol size distribution and dry deposition in southeastern Brazil

The size distributed composition of ambient aerosols is used to explore seasonal differences in particle chemistry and to show that dry deposition fluxes of soluble species, including important plant nutrients, increase during periods of biomass (sugar cane trash) burning in São Paulo State, Brazil. Measurements were made at a single site centrally located in the State's sugar cane growing region but away from the immediate vicinity of burns, so that the air sampled was representative of the regional background. Calculation of ion equivalent balances showed that during burning periods smaller particles (Aitken and accumulation modes) were more acidic, containing higher concentrations of SO(4)(2-), oxalate, NO(3)(-), HCOO(-), CH(3)COO(-), and Cl(-), but insufficient NH(4)(+) and K(+) to achieve neutrality. Larger particles showed an anion deficit due to the presence of unmeasured ions and comprised resuspended dusts modified by accumulation of nitrate, chloride, and organic anions. Increases of resuspended particles during the burning season were attributed to release of earlier deposits from the surfaces of burning vegetation as well as increased vehicle movement on unsurfaced roads. During winter months the relative contribution of combined emissions from road transport and industry diminished due to increased emissions from biomass combustion and other activities specifically associated with the harvest period. Positive increments in annual particulate dry deposition fluxes due to higher fluxes during the sugar cane harvest were 44.3% (NH(4)(+)), 42.1 % (K(+)), 31.8% (Mg(2+)), 30.4% (HCOO(-)), 12.8% (Cl(-)), 6.6% (CH(3)COO(-)), 5.2% (Ca(2+)), 3.8% (SO(4)(2-)), and 2.3% (NO(3)(-)). Na(+) and oxalate fluxes were seasonally invariant. Annual aerosol dry deposition fluxes (kg ha(-1)) were 0.5 (Na(+)), 0.25 (NH(4)(+)), 0.39 (K(+)), 0.51 (Mg(2+)), 3.19 (Ca(2+)), 1.34 (Cl(-)), 4.47 (NO(3)(-)), 3.59 (SO(4)(2-)), 0.58 (oxalate), 0.71 (HCOO(-)), and 1.38 (CH(3)COO(-)). Contributions of this mechanism to combined aerosol dry deposition and precipitation scavenging (inorganic species, excluding gaseous dry deposition) were 31% (Na(+)), 8% (NH(4)(+)), 26% (K(+)), 63% (Mg(2+)), 66% (Ca(2+)), 32% (Cl(-)), 33% (NO(3)(-)), and 36% (SO(4)(2-)).

Fast chromatographic determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in aerosol samples from sugar cane burning

Sugar cane burning in Brazil causes remarkable amounts of organic compounds to be emitted amongst which the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) represent serious health hazards. Therefore, 24-h aerosol samples (< 10 mum aerodynamic diameter) were collected in Araraquara city (São Paulo state) during the harvest season using a Hi-Vol sampler. PAHs were recovered using an Accelerated Solvent Extractor and analyzed by low-pressure gas chromatography-ion trap mass spectrometry (LP-GC-IT-MS). The fully automated extraction process was performed in less than 25 min with a solvent consumption of approximately 20 ml. The use of a deactivated 0.6 m x 0. 10 mm i.d. restrictor coupled to a 10 m wide-bore analytical column allowed most of the 16 PAHs in EPA's priority list to be identified and quantified in only 13 min. Concentrations of PAHs in Nraraquara aerosols ranged between 0.5 and 8.6 ng m(-3). (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

NO2 emissions from agricultural burning in São Paulo, Brazil

We report here on the application of a compact ultraviolet spectrometer to measurement of NO2 emissions from sugar cane field burns in São Paulo, Brazil, the time-resolved NO2 emission from a 10 ha plot peaked at about 240 g (NO2) s(-1), and amounted to a total yield of approximately 50 kg of N, or about 0.5 g (N) m(-2). Emission of N as NOx (i.e., NO + NO2) was estimated at 2.5 g (N) in 2, equivalent to 30% of applied fertilizer nitrogen. The corresponding annual emission of NOx nitrogen from São Paulo State sugar cane burning was >45 Gg N. In contrast to mechanized harvesting, which does not require prior burning of the crop, manual harvesting with burning acts to recycle nitrogen into surface soils and ecosystems.