Determination of atmospheric contaminants in harbour of Tarragona

Identifier:  TFG:292

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TFG292

Authors:  Àvila Llopis, Martí

Abstract:
Abstract: This work is based on the analysis of the atmosphere of the Port of Tarragona. It is an agreement between the URV and the Port itself which started back in 2009 with the aim to analyse the different types of polluting substances found in the atmosphere of the Port. This agreement only shows one year of the contract between both organizations since the whole project which will be finished by the end of February 2016. In this project, two groups of compounds will be analysed: Polycyclic Aromatic Hidrocarbons (PAHs) and Volatile Organic Compounds. The 18 main compounds from the first group have been determined by means of the ASE/GC-­‐MS method (explained thoroughly later on). As for the second group, the 90 main compounds have been determined due to the TD-­‐GC-­‐MS method. The first method has been proved with a Certified Reference Material (CRM) coming from Belgium and, therefore, the results obtained have been largely positive. Nevertheless, the second method has been proved in other work and for this reason, the resulting validation is not included in this paper. The main goal of this project is to evaluate the quality of the air around the Port so as to be able to draw reliable conclusions when all the analysis finish by the end of February 2016. Also, there is an attempt to establish a relationship between the days with a higher level of issue/emission and their possible causes or origins, such as ship unloading, storage tank leaks, etc.