Real-time non-refractory PM1 chemical composition, size distribution and source apportionment at a coastal industrial park in the Yangtze River Delta region, China

Xiangpeng Huang; Huan Yu; Lei Tong; Mengrong Yang; Fuzhen Shen; Yangzhou Wu; Dongyang Nie; Qiuliang Cai; Xiaorong Dai; Xinlei Ge; Hang Xiao

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142968

Real-time non-refractory PM₁ chemical composition, size distribution and source apportionment at a coastal industrial park in the Yangtze River Delta region, China

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Apr 1:763:142968. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142968. Epub 2020 Oct 14.

Authors

Xiangpeng Huang¹, Huan Yu², Lei Tong³, Mengrong Yang³, Fuzhen Shen¹, Yangzhou Wu⁴, Dongyang Nie⁵, Qiuliang Cai³, Xiaorong Dai³, Xinlei Ge¹, Hang Xiao⁶

Affiliations

¹ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China.
² School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China; Department of Atmospheric Science, School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China. Electronic address: yuhuan@cug.edu.cn.
³ Key Laboratory of Urban Environmental Processes and Pollution Control of Zhejiang Province, Ningbo Urban Environmental Observation and Research Station, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315800, China.
⁴ Department of Atmospheric Sciences, School of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310007, China.
⁵ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China; School of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Urban Environmental Processes and Pollution Control of Zhejiang Province, Ningbo Urban Environmental Observation and Research Station, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315800, China. Electronic address: hxiao@iue.ac.cn.

PMID: 33498110
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142968

Abstract

This study present real-time measurements of the chemical composition and particle number size distributions (PNSD) of submicron particulate matter (PM₁) in winter at a coastal industrial park in the Yangtze River Delta region of China. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis identified three PNSD factors and three organic aerosol (OA) factors. Contributions and potential source regions of these factors were investigated for four typical periods during the PM₁ formation and dissipation process. Results show that the relative contributions from aged 250 nm- factor, fresh 35 nm- and 80 nm- factors were strongly affected by local fresh emissions and regional new particle formation. The non-refractory PM₁ measured by Aerodyne aerosol chemical speciation monitor is indicative of the chemical composition of aged 250 nm-factor, but not fresh 35 nm- and 80 nm-factors. The contributions of NO₃^- and SO₄^2- to NR-PM₁ were largely dictated by whether the air mass trajectory went over the sea or the continent. NO₃^- was abundant (up to 44% of NR-PM₁) in cold and dry continental air masses, while SO₄^2- formation (up to 39% of NR-PM₁) was preferred in humid and warm marine air masses. Among the three OA source factors, more-oxidized oxygenated OA (MO-OOA) was the most abundant OA factor (44-66% of total OA) throughout the entire field campaign, while an enhanced contribution of 39% from hydrocarbon-like OA (HOA) was observed prior to heavy pollution period. On average, secondary components SO₄^2-, NO₃^-, NH₄⁺, MO-OOA and less-oxidized oxygenated OA (LO-OOA) contributed 90 ± 7% of NR-PM₁, while primary components HOA and Cl^- accounted for the remaining 10 ± 7%.

Keywords: Coastal atmosphere; Non-refractory PM(1); Particle number size distribution; Positive matrix factorization; Source apportionment.