Source apportionment of PM10 by positive matrix factorization model at a source region of biomass burning

Gurpreet Singh Saggu; Susheel Kumar Mittal

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110545

Source apportionment of PM₁₀ by positive matrix factorization model at a source region of biomass burning

J Environ Manage. 2020 Jul 15:266:110545. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110545. Epub 2020 Apr 24.

Authors

Gurpreet Singh Saggu¹, Susheel Kumar Mittal²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, India.
² School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, India. Electronic address: smittal@thapar.edu.

PMID: 32392136
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110545

Abstract

To determine the contribution of different particulate sources in PM₁₀ mass concentration at semi urban site, source apportionment study was carried out from 7 May 2015 to 9 June 2016. PM₁₀ samples were analyzed for 18 species (NO₃^-, SO₄^2-, Cl^-,Na⁺, K⁺, Al, Ti, Mn, Fe, Mg, V, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ba, Pb, Cr, Ca). The study was specifically designed to apportion the sources of air pollution where main exposure is from crop residue burning. The particulate matter (PM₁₀) samples were analyzed for mass and chemical composition, with Potassium as biomarker for crop residue burning. Sulfate SO₄^2-) and potassium ion (K⁺) species dominated the concentration of characterized species. K⁺ and Cl^- were identified as reliable markers for crop residue burning while Zn, Pb, Al, Ni and Cu were identified as markers for vehicular exhaust. The results of Positive matrix factorization (PMF) model gives the five major sources as probable sources of PM₁₀ pollution. The highest contribution in PM₁₀ mass concentration was found to be sulfate (24.39 ± 10.42), and potassium (24.02 ± 09.56) and chloride (07.07 ± 05.47), which combined accounts for nearly 60% of the total PM₁₀ mass fraction. The highest source contribution was from Industrial emission source (22.9%), with almost same contribution from biomass burning (21.2%), and resuspended dust (20.7%) and followed by vehicular emissions (19.0%) and least from secondary aerosols (16.2%).

Keywords: Biomass burning; HYSPLIT; PM(10); PMF model; Source apportionment.

MeSH terms

Aerosols
Air Pollutants*
Biomass
Dust
Environmental Monitoring
Particle Size
Particulate Matter
Vehicle Emissions

Substances

Aerosols
Air Pollutants
Dust
Particulate Matter
Vehicle Emissions