First study of airborne particulate pollution using PIXE analysis in Habana city, Cuba

The present work reports the results of a first study of elemental composition in airborne particulate matter (fine and coarse) collected at the Municipality of Centro Habana, Havana City, Cuba, using the PIXE technique. At present, there is not any information available about element contents in airborne particulate from this region. A five months sampling campaign was carried out, collecting the samples under an air flux of 20 l/min with a Gent SFU Sampler equipped with a system which allows the aerosol collection in both size fractions simultaneously. A total of 144 aerosol samples were collected. For the PIXE analysis, the samples were irradiated by 2.0 MeV energy protons from a 2 MV Tandetron Accelerator. A total of 14 elements (S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Br and Pb) were consistently detected with minimum detection limits from 1 ng/m3 to 10 ng/m3 for most of the elements. Enrichment factors were also calculated for both fractions in order to identify the natural and anthropogenic group of elements. The quantitative results obtained have revealed important information that has been used in a first attempt to understand and to characterize the atmospheric pollution of this area. (author)