Abstract

ROJANO, Roberto; ANGULO, Luis  and  RESTREPO, Gloria. Concentration and ratio PST, PM₁₀ AND PM_2.5 in towns near open pit mining: Case Cerrejón Colombia. Rev. Fac. Ing. UCV [online]. 2015, vol.30, n.3, pp.39-48. ISSN 0798-4065.

PM_2.5, PM₁₀ and total suspended particles (TSP) samples were collected from January to June 2012 in the open pit mine Cerrejón north of Colombia. Measurements of 24 hours every six days were made using PM₁₀ and TSP High Volume air sampler and PM_2.5 Low Volume. Concentrations were 18.20 to 198.2 μg/m³ for TSP, 11.96 μg/m³ to 100.05 μg/m³ for PM₁₀ and 54.50 μg/m³ to 3.37 μg/m³ for PM_2.5. The maximum concentrations were recorded at stations located downwind of the pits. Relations PM₁₀/TSP ranged 0.12 to 0.93 and the PM_2.5/PM₁₀ 0.33 to 0.51. Was also observed significant linear correlation in TSP/PM₁₀ (R= 0.81, 0.85, 0.77, 0.71, 0.69) and no significant linear correlation in PM_2.5-PM₁₀ (R = 0.10 y 0.14). The TSP may be a predictor of PM₁₀ in the mining area Cerrejón, whereas PM₁₀ can not be used to predict the concentration of PM_2.5 in the same area. The results revealed significant variability in the concentrations of TSP in relation to PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 depending on the location of the stations with respect to the pits of exploitation.

Keywords : TSP; PM₁₀; PM_2.5; sampling; relation; concentration; pit; Colombia.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )