Soil PM10 emission potential under specific mechanical stress and particles characteristics

Elio Padoan; Jacopo Maffia; Paolo Balsari; Franco Ajmone-Marsan; Elio Dinuccio

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146468

Soil PM₁₀ emission potential under specific mechanical stress and particles characteristics

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Jul 20:779:146468. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146468. Epub 2021 Mar 16.

Authors

Elio Padoan¹, Jacopo Maffia², Paolo Balsari², Franco Ajmone-Marsan², Elio Dinuccio²

Affiliations

¹ Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Forestali e Alimentari, Università degli Studi di Torino, Largo Paolo Braccini 2, 10095 Grugliasco, Italy. Electronic address: elio.padoan@unito.it.
² Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Forestali e Alimentari, Università degli Studi di Torino, Largo Paolo Braccini 2, 10095 Grugliasco, Italy.

PMID: 33752015
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146468

Abstract

Soil can be resuspended in the atmosphere due to wind or mechanical disturbances, such as agricultural activities (sowing, tilling, etc.), producing fine particulate matter (PM). Agriculture is estimated to be the third PM₁₀-emitting sector in Europe, emitting more than the transportation sector. However, very few emission figures are available for the different cropping operations. Moreover, soil Emission Potential (EP) is extremely variable, since is influenced by factors such as humidity, texture, chemical composition, and wind speed. Due to their similarity to tilling emission mechanisms, Soil Resuspension Chambers (SRC) are the most suitable method to estimate the impacts of these factors on soil susceptibility to emit PM₁₀ during cropping operations (Emission Potential, EP). The main objective of this work is to assess the EP of different agricultural soils used for maize cropping in North-Western Italy, studying the influence of soil moisture and physico-chemical characteristics. Therefore, a SRC was developed, based on previous studies, with the goal of being relatively small, easy to operate and low-cost. Using the gathered data, a log-linear multiple regression model was developed to allow soil EP estimation from few physico-chemical parameters (moisture, sand/silt ratio and organic carbon content). The model allows to tailor field Emission Factors (EF) of specific cropping operations to different soil and moisture conditions and was applied to an EF for rotary harrowing, defined in a previous study. The concentration of Potentially Toxic Elements (PTE) in soil-emitted PM₁₀ was determined, founding an enrichment up to 16 times higher than in the original soil, evidencing a possible cause of concern for operator's safety during agricultural activities.

Keywords: Emission model; PM10; Particulate matter; Potentially toxic elements; Soil dust.