Avaliação da qualidade do ar em uma área industrial, Complexo do Pecém (CE), através do índice de qualidade do ar

Abstract

In Brazil the development of coastal regions has been increasing in recent years as a result of tourism, urbanization, and industrialization. The municipality of São Gonçalo do Amarante, the study area, has in the last decades experienced disorderly demographic growth. Currently, this region has suffered socio-environmental pressures from the implementation of a port complex in the district of Pecém, and additionally since the steel industry begun operating in the area. The complex also has a thermoelectric plant, which uses coal as fuel. However, the burning of this compound causes social and environmental impacts, as it causes emissions of atmospheric pollutants, mainly sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), which harm both human health and the environment. Considering the remarkable impacts that this region of Ceará has been suffering, the goal of this study is therefore to evaluate the air quality by calculating the Air Quality Index (AQI), in the Municipality of São Gonçalo do Amarante – CE, using as a parameter the spatial-temporal distribution of SO2, O3, NO2 and particulate material, as well as its influential parameters. The samples were done in two different periods of 2017, the first one was in July and August, and the second one in September and October. Two active samplers were used (Trigás and Hi-vol), as well as a meteorological station, at five different areas. The results showed that the first period recorded unhealthy air quality for one of the areas, while the other areas registered a moderate air quality. Yet, in the second period the same area that previously recorded unhealthy air quality then registered a new record of very unhealthy, and in the other areas the air quality index worsened from moderate to unhealthy. The study concludes that during the monitored period residents of that region were exposed to health risks. Finally, it is necessary that atmospheric pollutants are continuously monitored in this area, once the dynamic of dispersion of these pollutants can be influenced by meteorological conditions of the local and by the dynamics of industrial activities