Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, is one of the largest cities in Brazil. It is geographically centered on a region with intense mining and industrial activity and a fleet of more than 1.5 million vehicles. The numerous sources of atmospheric emissions of particulate matter in this capital and its vicinity offer a considerable risk to the degradation of air quality. In order to contribute with elemental composition of particulate matter, the Nuclear Technology Development Center / Brazilian Commission for Nuclear Energy, and the Department of Nuclear Engineering of the Federal University of Minas Gerais has developed a research based on environmental samples. This work aims to present the sampling methodology, the concentration values of sampled particulate matter preliminarily, the methodology of analysis of elemental concentration using the nuclear technique of neutron activation analysis, k0-standardized method, and interpreted through statistical techniques and values of the elemental concentrations more representative of the samplings carried out. The results pointed out the vehicle emissions as the major source that contributes to airborne particulate matter followed by soil resuspension.

Particulate matter is the mixture of solid and liquid particles. It may at times cause adverse effects to human health, in the climate, ecosystem and materials. The objective of this study was to identify the sources emitting particulate matter that contributes to environmental pollution at two sites in Belo Horizonte city. The metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte is characterized by numerous mining activities and other industries, high population and, consequently, a high number of vehicles. There are therefore several sources emitting pollutants into the atmosphere. Airborne particulate matter was collected in air filters during approximately one year using a high-volume sampler in strategic points. The concentration of particulate matter results showed that, in general, the values were 40% higher than the values recommended by legislation. During the summer rainy season, no sample exceeded the recommended limits at both sampling sites. The elemental composition was determined through neutron activation analysis and these values were considered variables in the multivariate statistical analysis for the identification of the main sources of particle emission and their contributions. The results confirmed a significant influence of the soil and motor vehicles in the degradation of the region’s air quality.

The particulate matter present in the atmospheric air of large cities is one of the pollutants that causes great environmental risks. Due to their composition of solids and liquids varying in size, shape, composition and origin, they have an impact on the health of the exposed population, agriculture, forests and acidification of lakes. In this scenario, the present work had as objective to evaluate the concentration of the 10-micrometer particulate matter, commonly called PM10, and the elementary concentrations in air filters whose sampling was carried out at the Campus of the Federal University of Minas Gerais. For this, a high-volume sampler was used to collect the particulate matter. The elementary concentration of the particulate matter was determined via neutron activation analysis, method k0. Applying the enrichment factor technique, the influence of anthropogenic sources at the sampled site was investigated. The results showed anthropogenic interferences of zinc, sodium, chromium and iron and a geogenic impoverishment of cobalt.