Abstract

PADILLA LAURIANO, Abiu Josué  and  VILLEGAS SILVA, Elvito Fabián. Deposition of soot particles on the surface of ficus leaves (Ficus macrophylla) as an air pollution indicator in the urban ecosystem of Florida Baja-Chimbote. Ecol. apl. [online]. 2018, vol.17, n.1, pp.98-105. ISSN 1726-2216.  http://dx.doi.org/10.21704/rea.v17i1.1178.

The objective of this investigation was to quantify the deposition of soot on shrub vegetation foliage, mainly comprised of ficus (Ficus macrophylla), in the urban ecosystem of Florida Baja-Chimbote during the highest production period (may, june and july) of fish flour and fish oil producing factories. The air from this zone is gradually far from being clean air due to the high concentration (187.6 mg/m³; in 24 h) of Total Suspended Particles (TSP), which are generated by automobiles, by natural processes and in industrial, commercial and urban activities. Soot particles generated by pyrolysis in the boilers of fish flour and fish oil producing factories (from diesel) belong to a group of commonly spherical agglomerated particles, with aerodynamic diameters of 0.1 to 2.5 mm (fine particles) and smaller than 0.1 mm (ultrafine particles), which can easily penetrate pulmonary alveoli with adverse consequences on health. These particles were quantified gravimetrically, a methodology restricted to the quantification of particles smaller than 10 mm (PM-10, PM-5, PM-2.5). In this case, high volume equipment for monitoring, complementary technological applications and control technology were required. In the period of greatest activity of the fishmeal and fish oil producing factories, an average amount of 1.08 mg of soot / cm² was found; equivalent to 0.108 metric tons of soot / hectare adsorbed on the foliage of ficus trees, this level of contamination is 316.79 times higher than the average obtained in the first sampling campaign (closed season in Chimbote).

Keywords : soot deposition; adsorption; pyrolysis; total suspended particles; fine particles; ultrafine particles.

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