Source profiles and emission factors of organic and inorganic species in fine particles emitted from the ultra-low emission power plant and typical industries

Xin Zeng; Shaofei Kong; Qiang Zhang; Hong Ren; Jinhong Liu; Yunkai Feng; Qin Yan; Si Qin; Shurui Zheng; Liquan Yao; Zewei Fan; Ying Zhang; Xi Liu; Yingying Yan; Kuanguang Zhu; Feng Ding; Wei Liu; Dantong Liu; Shihua Qi; Pingqing Fu

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147966

Source profiles and emission factors of organic and inorganic species in fine particles emitted from the ultra-low emission power plant and typical industries

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Oct 1:789:147966. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147966. Epub 2021 May 24.

Authors

Xin Zeng¹, Shaofei Kong², Qiang Zhang³, Hong Ren³, Jinhong Liu¹, Yunkai Feng¹, Qin Yan¹, Si Qin⁴, Shurui Zheng¹, Liquan Yao¹, Zewei Fan⁵, Ying Zhang⁵, Xi Liu⁴, Yingying Yan⁵, Kuanguang Zhu⁶, Feng Ding⁶, Wei Liu⁶, Dantong Liu⁷, Shihua Qi⁴, Pingqing Fu⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Atmospheric Sciences, School of Environmental Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China; Department of Environmental Science and Technology, School of Environmental Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China.
² Department of Atmospheric Sciences, School of Environmental Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China; Department of Environmental Science and Technology, School of Environmental Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China. Electronic address: kongshaofei@cug.edu.cn.
³ Institute of Surface-Earth System Science, School of Earth System Science, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China.
⁴ Department of Environmental Science and Technology, School of Environmental Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China.
⁵ Department of Atmospheric Sciences, School of Environmental Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China.
⁶ Hubei Academy of Environmental Sciences, Wuhan 430074, China.
⁷ Department of Atmospheric Sciences, School of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
⁸ Institute of Surface-Earth System Science, School of Earth System Science, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China. Electronic address: fupingqing@tju.edu.cn.

PMID: 34058574
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147966

Abstract

Accurate source markers, source profiles and species-based emission factors (EFs) are currently the key limitations for source apportionment and emission inventory researches. Fine particles (PM_2.5) were collected from stack gases of eight types of stationary sources with a dilution sampling system. The mass percentages and EFs of 89 kinds of chemical species in PM_2.5 including water-soluble ions, elements, carbonaceous species and molecular organic species were obtained. Results showed that water-soluble ions (8%-54%) and elements (5%-45%) were the dominant chemical species. Palmitic acid (0.19%-0.62%) and stearic acid (0.21%-0.59%) were the most abundant organic species. PM_2.5 source profiles of the eight sources were different from each other with the coefficient of divergence values all higher than 0.4. The addition of organic species could help to further distinguish them. The indicatory chemical components and specific species ratios were obtained by both a statistical equation and randomForest. These indicatory chemical components (e.g. F^- for glass factory) and species ratios (e.g. K⁺/Mg²⁺ & OC/Mg for pharmaceutical factory) improved the current knowledges of their indicatory performance in source identification of ambient PM_2.5. The EFs of PM_2.5 from the eight stationary sources ranged from 0.019 to 51.6 kg t^-1 of fuel used. The EFs of PM_2.5 from the pharmaceutical factory were about 70-2600 times higher than other seven types of sources due to the lack of dust-removing devices. Certain EFs measured in this study were about 10-36,000 times lower than corresponding EFs estimated in previous studies which didn't perform field measurements, indicating the necessity for improving emission inventories continuously. This study contributes to identifying emission sources of PM_2.5 especially for subtypes of stationary sources and to establishing species-based emission inventories.

Keywords: Emission factors; Inorganic species; Organic species; PM(2.5); Source profiles; Stationary sources.

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants* / analysis
Dust / analysis
Environmental Monitoring
Particulate Matter* / analysis
Power Plants

Substances

Air Pollutants
Dust
Particulate Matter