Health risk-oriented source apportionment of PM2.5-associated trace metals

Jiawen Xie; Ling Jin Dr; Jinli Cui Dr; Xiaosan Luo Dr; Jun Li Dr; Gan Zhang Dr; Xiangdong Li Prof

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114655

Health risk-oriented source apportionment of PM_2.5-associated trace metals

Environ Pollut. 2020 Jul:262:114655. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114655. Epub 2020 Apr 23.

Authors

Jiawen Xie¹, Ling Jin Dr¹, Jinli Cui Dr², Xiaosan Luo Dr³, Jun Li Dr⁴, Gan Zhang Dr⁴, Xiangdong Li Prof⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong; The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen 518057, China.
² Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong; Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, 510006, China.
³ International Center for Ecology, Meteorology, and Environment, School of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China.
⁵ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong; The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen 518057, China. Electronic address: cexdli@polyu.edu.hk.

PMID: 32443215
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114655

Abstract

In health-oriented air pollution control, it is vital to rank the contributions of different emission sources to the health risks posed by hazardous components in airborne fine particulate matters (PM_2.5), such as trace metals. Towards this end, we investigated the PM_2.5-associated metals in two densely populated regions of China, the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and Pearl River Delta (PRD) regions, across land-use gradients. Using the positive matrix factorization (PMF) model, we performed an integrated source apportionment to quantify the contributions of the major source categories underlying metal-induced health risks with information on the bioaccessibility (using simulated lung fluid) and speciation (using synchrotron-based techniques) of metals. The results showed that the particulate trace metal profiles reflected the land-use gradient within each region, with the highest concentrations of anthropogenically enriched metals at the industrial sites in the study regions. The resulting carcinogenic risk that these elements posed was higher in the YRD than in the PRD. Chromium was the dominant contributor to the total excessive cancer risks posed by metals while manganese accounted for a large proportion of non-carcinogenic risks. An elevated contribution from industrial emissions was found in the YRD, while traffic emissions and non-traffic combustion (the burning of coal/waste/biomass) were the common dominant sources of cancer and non-cancer risks posed by metals in both regions. Moreover, the risk-oriented source apportionment of metals did not mirror the mass concentration-based one, suggesting the insufficiency of the latter to inform emission mitigation in favor of public health. While providing region-specific insights into the quantitative contribution of major source categories to the health risks of PM_2.5-associated trace metals, our study highlighted the need to consider the health protection goal-based source apportionment and emission mitigation in supplement to the current mass concentration-based framework.

Keywords: Bioaccessibility; Health risk; Land-use gradient; PM(2.5); Source apportionment; Trace metal.

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants / analysis*
China
Environmental Monitoring
Metals / analysis
Particulate Matter / analysis

Substances

Air Pollutants
Metals
Particulate Matter