Effect of photochemical losses of ambient volatile organic compounds on their source apportionment

Baoshuang Liu; Yang Yang; Tao Yang; Qili Dai; Yufen Zhang; Yinchang Feng; Philip K Hopke

doi:10.1016/j.envint.2023.107766

Effect of photochemical losses of ambient volatile organic compounds on their source apportionment

Environ Int. 2023 Feb:172:107766. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.107766. Epub 2023 Jan 18.

Authors

Baoshuang Liu¹, Yang Yang¹, Tao Yang¹, Qili Dai¹, Yufen Zhang², Yinchang Feng¹, Philip K Hopke³

Affiliations

¹ State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Urban Ambient Air Particulate Matter Pollution Prevention and Control & Tianjin Key Laboratory of Urban Transport Emission Research, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China; CMA-NKU Cooperative Laboratory for Atmospheric Environment-Health Research, Tianjin 300350, China.
² State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Urban Ambient Air Particulate Matter Pollution Prevention and Control & Tianjin Key Laboratory of Urban Transport Emission Research, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China; CMA-NKU Cooperative Laboratory for Atmospheric Environment-Health Research, Tianjin 300350, China. Electronic address: zhafox@nankai.edu.cn.
³ Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY 14642, USA; Institute for a Sustainable Environment, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY 13699, USA.

PMID: 36706584
DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.107766

Abstract

Photochemical losses of ambient volatile organic compounds (VOCs) substantially affect source apportionment analysis. Hourly speciated VOC data measured from April to August 2020 in Tianjin, China were used to analyze the photochemical losses of VOC species and assess the impacts of photochemical losses on source apportionment by comparing the positive matrix factorization (PMF) results based on observed and initial concentration data (OC-PMF and IC-PMF). The initial concentrations of the VOC species were estimated using a photochemical age-based parameterization method. The results suggest that the average photochemical loss of total VOCs (TVOCs) during the ozone pollution period was 2.4 times higher than that during the non-ozone pollution period. The photochemical loss of alkenes was more significant than that of the other VOC species. Temperature has an important effect on photochemical losses, and different VOC species have different sensitivities to temperature; high photochemical losses mainly occurred at temperatures between 25 °C and 35 °C. Photochemical losses reduced the concentrations of highly reactive species in the OC-PMF factor profile. Compared with the IC-PMF results, the OC-PMF contributions of biogenic emissions and polymer production-related industrial sources were underestimated by 73 % and 50 %, respectively, likely due to the oxidation of isoprene and propene, respectively. The contribution of diesel and gasoline evaporation was underestimated by 39 %, which was likely due to the loss of m,p-xylene. Additionally, the contributions of liquefied petroleum gas, vehicle emissions, natural gas, and oil refinery were underestimated by 31 %, 29 %, 23 %, and 13 %, respectively. When the O₃ concentrations were higher than 140 μg m^-3 or the temperatures were higher than 30 °C, the photochemical losses from most sources increased substantially. Additionally, solar radiation produced different photochemical losses for different source types.

Keywords: PMF; Photochemical losses; Source apportionment; Volatile organic compounds.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants* / analysis
China
Environmental Monitoring / methods
Vehicle Emissions / analysis
Volatile Organic Compounds* / analysis

Substances

Air Pollutants
Volatile Organic Compounds
Vehicle Emissions