Atmospheric Pollution Detection

Atmospheric Pollution is one of the biggest cause of diseases and deaths in Latin America. Respiratory diseases are common, affecting principally children of the biggest latin american big cities. The predominance of individual transportation as cars, and the lack of harder laws on the industries, are factors that can explain the high taxes of pollution on this cities.

 The particulate material is the name we give to solid and liquid material suspended by the air. Some of its compounds are emmited by human action and some are biogenic, and aren't necessarely nocive. The inhalable material is classificated as PM10, to the smaller than 10 micrometers and PM2,5 (thin particles), smaller than 2,5 micrometers. The thin particles can penetrate to deeper parts of the lungs.

 The effects of inhaling particulate matter that have been widely studied in humans and animals now include asthma, lung cancer, cardiovascular issues, birth defects, and premature death.

 So many countries set standards of particulate material which is considered safe. In European countries, the maximum recomended of PM is 20 g/m in Brazil, and in other south american countries is around 50 g/m. In So Paulo, the tax of PM are usually between 20 and 50 unities.

Our Project
Analyze the particulate material collected in the biggest latin american cities: So Paulo, Bogot, Lima, Buenos Aires, Santiago, among others... One of the few projects in L.A.

The Equipment

 The machine pumps air through the filter during one day The particulate matter is deposited on filtter, and then its concentration its mesured. Then the filter is taken to the laboratory. The organic compounds are separated from the others.

Chromatography Equipment

Organic Compounds
Measures the kind and the concentration of each organic compound studied in the material colected on filtter: HPA, some of them carcinogenic Alcanes, the presence indicates if the emission is biogenic or by human action.