Airborne Particles during a Firework Festival in Belvedere M.mo, South-Western Italian Coast

摘要

The effects of a Summer Firework Festival on the air quality were studied for the first time in a rural area of Southern Italy. The case study analyzes the physical-chemical properties of airborne particles collected during the Note di Fuoco (NDF) Festival, which took place in Belvedere M.mo in 2016. The sampling period was peculiar since in one week three different kinds of events have succeeded: three days during the NDF Festival with the concurrence of the festival and the firework displays, one day with the typical street Market involving food stalls and specialty shops, and three days with no specific events, considered as background conditions. Particulate Matter in different two size fractions (PM2.5 and PM10) was simultaneously collected on a daily basis and then chemically analyzed for major and rare metal content as well as for organic and elemental carbon determination. Levels of particles were even below the European air quality limit values. However, the day with the country market and during the three days of the NDF festival, the finer and respirable particulate fraction, PM2.5, showed an increase of 46% and 84%, respectively, over the mean concentration values observed during the background days. Both elemental and organic carbon, even in the finer fraction showed an increment up to 30%. All major, trace and rare elements were found in higher concentrations during the festival with respect to those recorded in days with no events. In our case study, K was recognized as the best fireworks tracer because its level doubled during the festival. Typical firework tracers like Fe, Ti, Mn, Pb and Sr resulted in greater concentrations, up to 50%.