Source apportionment of carbonaceous aerosols in diverse atmospheric environments of China by dual-carbon isotope method

Mengren Li; Min Hu; Jennifer Walker; Pan Gao; Xin Fang; Nan Xu; Yanhong Qin; Liping Zhou; Kexin Liu; Claudia I Czimczik; Xiaomei Xu

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150654

Source apportionment of carbonaceous aerosols in diverse atmospheric environments of China by dual-carbon isotope method

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Feb 1;806(Pt 2):150654. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150654. Epub 2021 Sep 29.

Authors

Mengren Li¹, Min Hu², Jennifer Walker³, Pan Gao⁴, Xin Fang⁵, Nan Xu⁵, Yanhong Qin⁵, Liping Zhou⁴, Kexin Liu⁶, Claudia I Czimczik³, Xiaomei Xu³

Affiliations

¹ State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, International Joint Laboratory for Regional Pollution Control, Ministry of Education (IJRC), College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China.
² State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, International Joint Laboratory for Regional Pollution Control, Ministry of Education (IJRC), College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. Electronic address: minhu@pku.edu.cn.
³ Keck Carbon Cycle AMS Laboratory, Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-3100, USA.
⁴ Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, Department of Geography, Institute of Ocean Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
⁵ State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, International Joint Laboratory for Regional Pollution Control, Ministry of Education (IJRC), College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Science and Technology and Institute of Heavy Ion Physics, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.

PMID: 34597568
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150654

Abstract

Carbonaceous aerosols are major components in PM_2.5 of both polluted and clean atmosphere. Accurate source apportionment of carbonaceous aerosols may support effective PM_2.5 control. Dual-carbon isotope method (¹⁴C and ¹³C) was adopted to identify the contribution of three main air pollution sources biogenic and biomass (f_bb), liquid fossil (f_liq.fossil) and coal (f_coal). The aerosol samples were collected at three types of sites with distinctly different degree of air pollution: urban, rural and regional background. The seasonal variation of source apportionment of the carbonaceous aerosols in urban Beijing was discussed. Modern biogenic and biomass made an absolute dominance of 92.9 ± 0.5% contribution to the carbonaceous aerosols at the background site Mt. Yulong due to long-range transport from Southeast Asia. The three main sources contributed jointly to the atmospheric carbonaceous aerosols at the rural site Wangdu and the urban site Beijing. The biogenic and biomass source was the major contribution in summer (47.0 ± 0.3%) and autumn (49.3 ± 0.3%) of Beijing, while coal source increased from summer (26.8 ± 13.8%) to autumn (34.7 ± 11.5%). Heating significantly increased the coal source to the dominant contribution (47.0 ± 16.9%) in winter of Beijing. Separate day and night time coal contributions were used to evaluate the two origins of coal combustion: industrial use vs. residential use. The results of source apportionment for carbonaceous aerosols provide scientific support for the prevention and control of air pollution.

Keywords: Carbonaceous aerosol; Dual-carbon isotope method; Radiocarbon isotope; Source apportionment; Stable carbon isotope.

MeSH terms

Aerosols / analysis
Air Pollutants* / analysis
Carbon / analysis
Carbon Isotopes
China
Environmental Monitoring
Particulate Matter* / analysis
Seasons
Vehicle Emissions / analysis

Substances

Aerosols
Air Pollutants
Carbon Isotopes
Particulate Matter
Vehicle Emissions
Carbon