Pollution sources in an industrialized urban area detected by means of air particulate sampling and subsequent analysis with PIXE and PIGE techniques

Air pollution measurements have been performed at Montelupo, in a district about 20 km west of Florence, characterised by the presence of a large number of ceramic and glass factories just inside the inhabited area. This work is part of a wider project aiming at the assessment of the environmental impact of a new industrial settlement in the district. Two campaigns of one weak each have been carried out (in March and June 1996) using an air particulate streaker sampler which provides size fractionation (between particle size smaller than 2.5 jim, and from 2.5 jLim to 10 jjm). The time resolution on the collected aerosol streak is about one hour. The fine and coarse fractions were analysed by Particle-Induced X-Ray Emission (PIXE) and Particle-Induced y-Ray Emission (PIGE). Typical minimum detection limits (MDL) for the concentration in air are in the order of the ng/nf, with a beam bombardment of a few minutes. The following elements were detected, at least episodically, above MDL: F, Na, Mg, Al, Si, S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Br, Sr, Zr, Cd, Pb. For those of them, which are explicitly considered in the Italian laws for health prevention, the average detected concentration in air comes out to be below the air quality limits. Multivariate methods applied to 24-h multielemental concentration data set showed that few components dominate particulate matter composition