Emission characteristics of volatile organic compounds and their secondary organic aerosol formation potentials from a petroleum refinery in Pearl River Delta, China

Zhijuan Zhang; Hao Wang; Dan Chen; Qinqin Li; Phong Thai; Daocheng Gong; Yang Li; Chunlin Zhang; Yinggang Gu; Lei Zhou; Lidia Morawska; Boguang Wang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.01.179

Emission characteristics of volatile organic compounds and their secondary organic aerosol formation potentials from a petroleum refinery in Pearl River Delta, China

Sci Total Environ. 2017 Apr 15:584-585:1162-1174. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.01.179. Epub 2017 Feb 8.

Authors

Zhijuan Zhang¹, Hao Wang², Dan Chen³, Qinqin Li³, Phong Thai⁴, Daocheng Gong³, Yang Li³, Chunlin Zhang³, Yinggang Gu⁵, Lei Zhou², Lidia Morawska⁴, Boguang Wang⁶

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Mass Spectrometer and Atmospheric Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China; Guangdong Provincial Engineering Research Center for On-line Source Apportionment System of Air Pollution, Guangzhou 510632, China.
² Institute for Environmental and Climate Research, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511443, China.
³ Institute for Environmental and Climate Research, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511443, China; Institute of Mass Spectrometer and Atmospheric Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.
⁴ International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health, Queensland University of Technology, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia.
⁵ Institute of Mass Spectrometer and Atmospheric Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.
⁶ Institute for Environmental and Climate Research, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511443, China; Institute of Mass Spectrometer and Atmospheric Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China. Electronic address: tbongue@jnu.edu.cn.

PMID: 28189307
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.01.179

Abstract

A campaign was carried out to measure the emission characteristics of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in different areas of a petroleum refinery in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region in China. In the refining area, 2-methylpentane, 2,3-dimethylbutane, methylcyclopentane, 3-methylhexane, and butane accounted for >50% of the total VOCs; in the chemical industry area, 2-methylpentane, p-diethylbenzene, 2,3-dimethylbutane, m-diethylbenzene and 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene were the top five VOCs detected; and in the wastewater treatment area, the five most abundant species were 2-methylpentane, 2,3-dimethylbutane, methylcyclopentane, 3-methylpentane and p-diethylbenzene. The secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation potential was estimated using the fractional aerosol coefficients (FAC), secondary organic aerosol potential (SOAP), and SOA yield methods. The FAC method suggests that toluene, p-diethylbenzene, and p-diethylbenzene are the largest contributors to the SOA formation in the refining, chemical industry, and wastewater treatment areas, respectively. With the SOAP method, it is estimated that toluene is the largest contributor to the SOA formation in the refining area, but o-ethyltoluene contributes the most both in the chemical industry and wastewater treatment areas. For the SOA yield method, aromatics dominate the yields and account for nearly 100% of the total in the three areas. The SOA concentrations estimated of the refining, chemical industry and wastewater treatment areas are 30, 3835 and 137μgm^-3, respectively. Despite the uncertainties and limitations associated with the three methods, the SOA yield method is suggested to be used for the estimation of SOA formation from the petroleum refinery. The results of this study have demonstrated that the control of VOCs, especially aromatics such as toluene, ethyltoluene, benzene and diethylbenzene, should be a focus of future regulatory measures in order to reduce PM pollution in the PRD region.

Keywords: Fractional aerosol coefficients (FAC); Petroleum refinery; SOA yield; Secondary organic aerosol (SOA); Secondary organic aerosol potential (SOAP); Volatile organic compounds (VOCs).