Avaliação da qualidade do ar na cidade de Fortaleza - Ce: a influência da frota veicular e da sazonalidade na distribuição de compostos carbonílicos

Abstract

The rampant growth of populations and urban areas, and therefore of human activities such as industrialization, massive constructions and increased car traffic, has caused a number of urban and environmental problems, such as air pollution and its harms to human health. The burning of fossil fuels from industrial activities and especially from cars, results in some carcinogenic compounds such as carbonyl compounds (CCs). Considering this problem, the following study aims on evaluating these CCs levels in the city of Fortaleza, Brazil. Thus the determination of sources, distribution and production as well as the health risks will be evaluated in four important avenues of Fortaleza, through analyses of the relationship between vehicle fleet, seasonality and concentration of CCs. For such, this study was conducted during the rainy and dry seasons of 2015 with double sampling at the hours of 8am-10am, 11am-2pm and 16pm-19pm, in four avenues with high and medium traffic: Aguanambi Av., Bezerra de Menezes Av., Abolição Av., and Avenida da Universidade Av. Another spot was set in a low traffic spot, the Marechal Deodoro St. in order to be a “white point”. The data from these pollutants were collected by an active sampler and quantified by liquid chromatography. The results showed high levels of CCs concentration in the four avenues and in the street analysed in both dry and rainy season. This way, the concentrations at these points exceeded the limit set by law. The estimated cancer risk in the spots analysed also exceeded the limits set by WHO and NIOSH in levels of formaldehyde in both periods. The Aguanambi Avenue also exceeds the limit set by OSHA in the dry season. As for acetaldehyde in both dry and rainy seasons, no limit has been exceeded. Overall, the city of Fortaleza showed high levels of concentration of CCs and risks to human health, since some of these compounds have carcinogenic potential. Therefore, the implementation of measures to reduce the concentration of CCs in Fortaleza along with the cancer risk that it brings to human health is now necessary. Measures such as the reduction of traffic flow and improvement in the quality of fuel or in the combustion process are important alternatives to improve air quality in Fortaleza. Greater monitoring of these avenues and other important avenues of Fortaleza should be made so that more definitive conclusions can be set.