Source apportionment of ambient fine and coarse particulate matter at the Fort McKay community site, in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region, Alberta, Canada

Matthew S Landis; J Patrick Pancras; Joseph R Graney; Emily M White; Eric S Edgerton; Allan Legge; Kevin E Percy

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.01.110

Source apportionment of ambient fine and coarse particulate matter at the Fort McKay community site, in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region, Alberta, Canada

Sci Total Environ. 2017 Apr 15:584-585:105-117. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.01.110. Epub 2017 Jan 29.

Authors

Matthew S Landis¹, J Patrick Pancras², Joseph R Graney³, Emily M White⁴, Eric S Edgerton⁵, Allan Legge⁶, Kevin E Percy⁷

Affiliations

¹ Integrated Atmospheric Solutions, LLC., Cary, NC, USA. Electronic address: mlandis@atmospheric-solutions.com.
² Pancras Consulting, Cary, NC, USA.
³ Geological Sciences and Environmental Studies, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, USA.
⁴ Maed Consulting, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
⁵ Atmospheric Research & Analysis, Inc., Cary, NC, USA.
⁶ Biosphere Solutions, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
⁷ Air Quality Effects Consulting Ltd., Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.

PMID: 28147291
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.01.110

Abstract

An ambient air particulate matter sampling study was conducted at the Wood Buffalo Environmental Association (WBEA) AMS-1 Fort McKay monitoring station in the Athabasca Oil Sand Region (AOSR) in Alberta, Canada from February 2010 to July 2011. Daily 24h integrated fine (PM_2.5) and coarse (PM_10-2.5) particulate matter was collected using a sequential dichotomous sampler. Over the duration of the study, 392 valid daily dichotomous PM_2.5 and PM_10-2.5 sample pairs were collected with concentrations of 6.8±12.9μgm^-3 (mean±standard deviation) and 6.9±5.9μgm^-3, respectively. A subset of 100 filter pairs was selected for element analysis by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence and dynamic reaction cell inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Application of the U.S. EPA positive matrix factorization (PMF) receptor model to the study data matrix resolved five PM_2.5 sources explaining 96% of the mass including oil sands upgrading (32%), fugitive dust (26%), biomass combustion (25%), long-range Asian transport lead source (9%), and winter road salt (4%). An analysis of historical PM_2.5 data at this site shows that the impact of smoke from wildland fires was particularly high during the summer of 2011. PMF resolved six PM_10-2.5 sources explaining 99% of the mass including fugitive haul road dust (40%), fugitive oil sand (27%), a mixed source fugitive dust (16%), biomass combustion (12%), mobile source (3%), and a local copper factor (1%). Results support the conclusion of a previous epiphytic lichen biomonitor study that near-field atmospheric deposition in the AOSR is dominated by coarse fraction fugitive dust from bitumen mining and upgrading operations, and suggest that fugitive dust abatement strategies targeting the three major sources of PM_10-2.5 (e.g., oil sand mining, haul roads, bulk material stockpiles) would significantly reduce near-field atmospheric deposition gradients in the AOSR and reduce ambient PM concentrations in the Fort McKay community.

Keywords: Fine and coarse particulate matter; Fugitive dust; Positive matrix factorization; Smoke; Wildland fire.