Notes on Sulfur Fluxes in Urban Areas with Industrial Activity

Authors

Benitez, Jarel

Quevedo, Olga

Calderon, Fernanda

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate sulfur fluxes in kg/ha/year in the urban area which is located close to oil refinery and the wood industry in Esmeraldas (Ecuador). The fluxes were determined by the turbidimetric method, for this the sulfur concentration was captured using 16 passive samplers located in four monitoring sites categorized by land use during dry and rainy season between 2018 and 2019. For the spatial description of the area of study were used QGIS version 2.18 and Google Earth 2018, monthly wind graphs were generated with the help of the WRPLOT View version 8.0.2 program. The sulfur fluxes were varied between 5,060 and 5,294 kg/ha/year according to monitoring site, the low values of sulfur fluxes were attributed to the rainy season (0.37 kg - 0.60 kg/ha/year) in emission sources such as the Margarita Cortez monitoring site. The atmospheric and orographic conditions which had an influence on concentrations of the sulfur fluxes were varied significantly in a radius smaller than 45 km2. The results obtained in this study can contribute for the development of policies or legal instruments such as public ordinances and monitoring plans in the industrial area of Esmeraldas.