Air pollution studies in terms of particulate matters, elements and black carbon in the aerosols collected at Andravoahangy-Antananarivo

This work was performed at the Institut National des Sciences et Techniques Nucleaires (Madagascar-INSTN) in the framework of RAF/4/019 project organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The main objective of this work is to study the level of air pollution in terms of particulate matters, elements and black carbon in the site of Andravoahangy-Antananarivo and to transmit the results obtained to the competent authorities so that they can make decisions to reduce the impacts of air pollution on the population. The total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometer is used for qualitative and quantitative analyses of the elements contained in the aerosols and the reflectometer M43D for the determination of the black carbon concentrations. The results showed that the average concentrations of the particulate matters PM2,5-10 are higher than those of PM2,5. The average concentrations of PM10 in the aerosols are exceeding the World Health Organisation (WHO) and European Union guidelines, set at 50 μg.m-3 and those of PM2,5 are higher than the 2005 WHO (25 μg.m-3) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (35 μg.m-3) guidelines. The identified elements in the aerosols are Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Br, Sr and Pb. The average concentrations of these elements are also higher in the coarse particles than in the fine particles. The concentrations of black carbon are higher in the fine particles, with a maximum value of 9.12 μg.m-3.