Study, sampling and analysis of POPs in emissions and inmissions in environmental samples

Abstract

The project is dedicated to environmental pollution assessment caused by dioxins and furans (PCDD/F) in the vicinity of industrial plants like cements and waste incinerators. It involves the active sampling of ambient air by means of two different sampling techniques: continuous monitoring at the plant’s stack (emissions) and novel wind selective sampling (WindSelect®) on the vicinity of the facilities (inmissions). With a wind selective device we can sample (in a unique sampling place) the ambient air in two different cartridges depending on the precedence of the wind (2 sectors), and as the main objective, we can evaluate the influence of the facilities in the POP concentration on the ambient air of the nearby. Those samples have to be extracted and eluted following manual procedures or by automatic methods, and then analyzed with HRGC-HRMS, always proceeding with standard EN-1948 and EPA-1613 regulation. After the interpretation of the chromatograms, a results report has to be performed with the determination of the concentration in TEQ corresponding to each sector. Then some statistical studies are made to determine the influence of each pollutant in the final toxicity of the sample. Finally a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is done in order to contrast the chemical footprint of the sample and determine the influence of the facilities in the contamination of the ambient air.