Indoor PM from residential coal combustion: Levels, chemical composition, and toxicity.

Indoor air quality is crucial for human health due to the significant time people spend at home, and it is mainly affected by internal sources such as solid fuel combustion for heating. This study investigated the indoor air quality and health implications associated with residential coal burning covering gaseous pollutants (CO, CO and total volatile organic compounds), particulate matter, and toxicity. The PM chemical composition was obtained by ICP-MS/OES (elements), ion chromatography (water-soluble ions) and thermal-optical analysis (organic and elemental carbon).

Towards a model of wet deposition of bioaerosols: The raindrop size role.

Bioaerosols play a major role in the plant life of ecosystems. In addition, they have a profound impact on human health, since they may cause lung diseases or allergies. The key objective of this study is to assess the below cloud scavenging effect of rainfall on pollen concentration.

Towards a model for aerosol removal by rain scavenging: The role of physical-chemical characteristics of raindrops.

A one-year study was carried out in León, Spain, in order to characterize physically and chemically the precipitation. With the aim of studying the scavenging process of atmospheric pollutants, scavenging ratio and removal coefficients were calculated through physical parameters of raindrops (obtained by disdrometer data) and through chemical properties of aerosols. Finally, linear models for the prediction of the chemical composition of rainwater and the efficiency of the removal effect were established.

Characterization of aerosol sources in León (Spain) using Positive Matrix Factorization and weather types.

A one-year aerosol sampling campaign, between 2016 and 2017, was conducted in a suburban area of León city, Spain. An association between the Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) results and air masses through circulation weather types was carried out, through the construction of linear models from the PM concentrations and its chemical composition. The aerosol sources, identified by PMF six-factor solution, were: traffic (29%), aged sea salt (26%), secondary aerosols (16%), dust (13%), marine aerosol (7%) and biomass burning (3%).

Analytical feasibility of a solvent-assisted flavour evaporation method for aroma analyses in bread crumb.

The analysis of bread aroma is essential in order to evaluate its quality as well as to improve it. The use of different methodologies for the analysis of volatile compounds lead to varying results. In the present study, the matrix effect, extraction efficiency, limits of detection and quantification as well as the precision of a proposed solvent-assisted flavour evaporation methodology were evaluated for the first time and compared with a reference method, both differing in the distillation step.