EMISSÕES DE DIOXINAS E FURANOS NA PRODUÇÃO DE CARVÃO VEGETAL EM FORNOS RUDIMENTARES

Brazil is a major global producer of charcoal, mainly from eucalyptus. In Sao Paulo, charcoal producers are in rural areas and use rudimentary kilns. As the carbonization process of wood involves temperatures in the range of formation of dioxins and furans, it is important to check its quantification to support impact studies on the environment and on the health of exposed populations. Samples of ambient air, charcoal and ashes were collected and analyzed according to current methodology. The concentrations of dioxins and furans in ambient air are close to those found in several Brazilian cities, concluding that they are in levels of urban atmospheric air, but can not be neglected. For coal and ashes, the results showed values are close to, but above the detection limit of the analytical method used, indicating that the content in both is very low and for the vinegar the results are very low too. Index Terms - charcoal production, dioxins and furans, environment sampling, atmospheric emissions.