APPLICATION OF FLUORESCENCE OF X-RAYS (EDXRF) IN ATMOSPHERIC BIOMONITORING USING TREE BARK

Biomonitoring is an alternative technique that uses living organisms to check for changes in the environment caused by water, air and soil pollution. Based on atmospheric emissions located in the region of Estiva, Nossa Senhora do Socorro, Brasil {where there is a portland cement industry, whose activities were closed about a year ago), the objective of this work was to collect samples of tree bark to verify the spatial variability of some chemical elements present in the area. The results obtained from the chemical analyzes can be used to make decisions regarding raw materials used in the processes such as cement production, review of procedures and measures in relation to the protection of the environment and human health. For the analytical control of the samples, the concentrations of the elements Fe, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Mg, P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Al , Cd and Ba were investigated. In order to control the analytical quality, for precision and accuracy, replicates of the reference materials NIST 1515 and NIST 1573, were analyzed by means of Energy Dispersion X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (EDXRF), characterized as one of the techniques the most important multielemental analyzes for the evaluation of natural ecosystems, mainly because it allows the determination of elemental chemical compositions of samples from different matrices with high precision and accuracy, added to the relative ease of sample preparation, avoiding contamination of the same.