Source identification and volatility characteristics of ambient organic aerosols in Shenzhen in autumn

LI Meng-lin; ZHU Qiao; CAO Li-ming; WEI Jing; HUANG Xiao-feng

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China Environmental Science ›› 2021, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (9) : 4009-4015.

Air Pollution Control

Source identification and volatility characteristics of ambient organic aerosols in Shenzhen in autumn

LI Meng-lin, ZHU Qiao, CAO Li-ming, WEI Jing, HUANG Xiao-feng

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Abstract

Using a thermodenuder coupled with a long-time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometry system, we conducted online measurements of submicron aerosols in Shenzhen in the fall of 2020. In addition to obtaining chemical compositions of PM₁ and analyzing their volatility characteristics, we used positive matrix factorization (PMF) method to apportion sources for organic aerosols (OA). The results showed that during the sampling period, the average mass concentration of aerosol was (28.3±11.11)μg/m³ (9.5~76.8μg/m³). Among the chemical compositions, organics contributed most to PM₁ (57.9%), sulfate was the secondary dominant composition, which accounted for 24.7% in total PM₁. PMF analysis for OA resolved four OA factors:hydrocarbon-like OA (HOA), cooking-related OA(COA), less-oxidized oxygenated OA(LO-OOA), and more-oxidized oxygenated OA(MO-OOA). The mass fractions of HOA, COA, LO-OOA and MO-OOA were 9.1%, 27.2%, 31.8% and 31.9%, respectively. Furthermore, we used two methods including NO⁺/NO₂⁺ ratio and PMF methods to estimate organonitrates (ON). The average concentration of ON was 0.17~0.25μgm^-3, accounting for 1.5%~9.7% of OA, indicating ON made a substantial contribution to aerosols in Shenzhen. Correlation analysis shows that ON were correlated bestwith LO-OOA(R=0.80), suggesting ON maybe formed via localsecondary formation. The volatility analysis revealed that the volatility sequence of the main chemical components was chloride≈inorganic nitrate>ammonium>organic matte>ON>sulfate, and the volatility sequence of the OA factors was LO-OOA> HOA> COA> MO-OOA. Except LO-OOA, the volatility sequence of other OA factors was consistent with their oxidation states. LO-OOA evaporated most from 50℃to 70℃, suggesting the significant difference of volatility existed among its compositions.

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aerosol volatility / organic aerosol / organonitrates / TD-AMS

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LI Meng-lin, ZHU Qiao, CAO Li-ming, WEI Jing, HUANG Xiao-feng. Source identification and volatility characteristics of ambient organic aerosols in Shenzhen in autumn[J]. China Environmental Science. 2021, 41(9): 4009-4015

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