Buildings as repositories of hazardous pollutants of anthropogenic origin

In the present work the pollutant content of diverse building materials was evaluated by the combination of spectrometric and chromatographic techniques. A first non-destructive analysis carried out by mu-XRF and Raman spectroscopy revealed a high impact of pollutants, which reached depths higher than 6 mm. The quantitative analyses pointed out that black crust as accumulation nucleus where concentration values up to 3408 mg/kg of lead, 752 mg/kg of chromium or 220 mg/kg of arsenic, high amounts of diverse sulphates and nitrates as well as substantial amounts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) of a clear pyrolytic source were determined. On the other hand, samples without black crust showed also a surprising soluble salt content up to 5%. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) were found to be absent in all material types. The chemometric analysis of the quantitative results revealed that the accumulation capacity and the subsequent pollutant content depends on the type of construction materials, being mortars the most susceptible. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.