International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

Abstract—Sugar cane industry signifies a very important income for the Mexican economy; nevertheless, the inadequate agricultural practices, promote the emission of tons of atmospheric particles (PM). In order to have a better understanding about the toxics contained in the particle emission from sugarcane burning, two sampling campaigns to collect fine particles (PM_2.5) and respirable particles (PM₁₀) during and after the harvest season, were performed in the municipality of Córdoba, Veracruz, México, a small city next to many sugarcane crops. Results showed that particles concentrations increased around 41% for PM₁₀ and 32% for PM_2.5, whereas black carbon concentrations increased 25% and 28% respectively. The high PM_2.5/PM₁₀ ratio of 0.7during harvest shows that most of the particles and toxic are contained in the fine fraction, in addition, the sum of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs) was around 50% of total PAHs, with a BAPeq of 996 pg m^-3 during harvesting; these results represents an important risk for the neighboring population, consequently authorities and decision makers should attend and implement control strategies.

Index Terms—Sugarcane burning, PM_2.5, black carbon, PAHs.

The authors are with the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Azcapotzalco, México (e-mail: vma@correo.azc.uam.mx, trm@correo.azc.uam.mx, lnf@correo.azc.uam.mx).

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Cite: Violeta Mugica-Á lvarez, Sandra Ramos-Guízar, Naxieli Santiago-de la Rosa, Miguel Torres-Rodríguez, and Luis Noreña-Franco, "Black Carbon and Particulate Organic Toxics Emitted by Sugarcane Burning in Veracruz, México," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 290-294, 2016.