Aerosol characteristics and sources in Yangzhou, China resolved by offline aerosol mass spectrometry and other techniques

Ge, Xinlei; Li, Ling; Chen, Yanfang; Chen, Hui; Wu, Dan; Wang, Jun Feng; Xie, Xinchun; Ge, Shemin; Ye, Zhaolian; Xu, Jianzhong; Chen, Mindong

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2017.03.044

Cited by 90 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…The mass ratio SOC to OC was also the highest in summer [45], further strongly indicating the significant role of secondary formation. The PM 2.5 concentration in spring was slightly lower than that in summer while the concentration of K + was highest in spring.…”

Section: Seasonal Differencesmentioning

confidence: 85%

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Chemical and Light Extinction Characteristics of Atmospheric Aerosols in Suburban Nanjing, China

Zhang

et al. 2017

Atmosphere

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This work reports the chemical and light extinction characteristics of the atmospheric particles collected from January to November 2014 in suburban Nanjing. Size-segregated measurement results showed that more than 80% of the major aerosol components were concentrated in PM 2.5 . The concentration of PM 2.5 was highest in winter and lowest in autumn. Specifically, K + concentration peaked in late spring indicating heavy influences from straw burning, while sulfate concentration was highest in summer and its daytime concentration was also higher than its nighttime concentration, both reflecting a significant role of photochemical production. Nevertheless, except for sulfate, all other components had higher concentrations during nighttime, signifying the role of unfavorable meteorological conditions in exacerbating the air pollution. The IMPROVE formula was employed, which can reconstruct the PM 2.5 mass and light extinction well. The light extinction was mainly contributed by (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 and NH 4 NO 3 (together 58.3%). Mass concentrations of all PM 2.5 components increased significantly with the increase of pollution levels, but nitrate increased most rapidly; correspondingly, the contribution of nitrate to light extinction also increased quickly when pollution became heavy. Such results were different from those observed in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei where sulfate increased most quickly. Our results thus highlight that reduction of vehicular NO 2 is likely a priority for air quality improvement in Nanjing. Back trajectory analysis showed the dominance of the local air mass and the one from Huanghai, yet the air mass originated from Bohai, and passed though Shandong and north of Jiangsu province could deliver highly-polluted air to Nanjing, as well.

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Section: Seasonal Differencesmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…We also estimated the concentration of secondary organic carbon (SOC) using the EC-tracer method which has been widely used in other studies [45]:…”

Section: Seasonal Differencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical and Light Extinction Characteristics of Atmospheric Aerosols in Suburban Nanjing, China

Zhang

et al. 2017

Atmosphere

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“…For use with the AMS, the internal standard must meet a number of requirements: it must be non-refractory, soluble, unreactive with the other sample components, not already present in the solution, and easily distinguishable from other species in the sample. For nebulization of samples dissolved in organic solvents, organic internal standards (e.g., phthalic acid; Chen et al, 2016;Han et al, 2016) meet these requirements. In the present work, which focuses on aqueous samples only, we use an inorganic internal standard of isotopically labeled ammonium nitrate (NH 15 4 NO 3 ).…”

Section: Internal Standards and Calibration Curvesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Examples include the analysis of sources and aging of atmospheric organic material from aerosol filter extracts (Bozzetti et al, 2017;Huang et al, 2014;Sun et al, 2011;Xu et al, 2015;Ye et al, 2017), cloud and/or fog, water samples (Kaul et al, 2014;Lee et al, 2012), and organic material in glaciers (Xu et al, 2013). Offline AMS has proven especially useful for the analysis of aerosol particles larger than 1 µm (Bozzetti et al, 2016;Daellenbach et al, 2016;Ge et al, 2017). Offline AMS has also proven useful in investigating fractionation and solubility of atmospheric organic material in water and organic solvents (Daellenbach et al, 2016;Mihara and Mochida, 2011;Xu et al, 2016).…”

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confidence: 99%

Ultrasonic nebulization for the elemental analysis of microgram-level samples with offline aerosol mass spectrometry

et al. 2019

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Abstract. The elemental composition of organic material in environmental samples – including atmospheric organic aerosol, dissolved organic matter, and other complex mixtures – provides insights into their sources and environmental processing. However, standard analytical techniques for measuring elemental ratios typically require large sample sizes (milligrams of material or more). Here we characterize a method for measuring elemental ratios in environmental samples, requiring only micrograms of material, using a small-volume nebulizer (SVN). The technique uses ultrasonic nebulization of samples to generate aerosol particles (100–300 nm diameter), which are then analyzed using an aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS). We demonstrate that the technique generates aerosol from complex organic mixtures with minimal changes to the elemental composition of the organic material and that quantification is possible using internal standards (e.g., NH415NO3). Sample volumes of 2–4 µL with total solution concentrations of at least 0.2 g L−1 form sufficient particle mass for elemental ratio measurement by the AMS, despite only a small fraction (∼ 0.1 %) of the sample forming fine particles after nebulization (with the remainder ending up as larger droplets). The method was applied to aerosol filter extracts from the field and laboratory, as well as to the polysaccharide fraction of dissolved organic matter (DOM) from the North Pacific Ocean. In the case of aerosol particles, the mass spectra and elemental ratios from the SVN–AMS agree with those from online AMS sampling. Similarly, for DOM, the elemental ratios determined from the SVN–AMS agree with those determined using combustion analysis. The SVN–AMS provides a platform for the rapid quantitative analysis of the elemental composition of complex organic mixtures and non-refractory inorganic salts from microgram samples with applications that include analysis of aerosol extracts and terrestrial, aquatic, and atmospheric dissolved organic matter.

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“…A punch of each filter was measured stepwise at temperatures of 140 • C (OC 1 ), 280 • C (OC 2 ), 480 • C (OC 3 ), and 580 • C (OC 4 ) in a helium atmosphere, and 580 • C (EC 1 ), 740 • C (EC 2 ), and 840 • C (EC 3 ) in a 2% oxygen/98% helium gas atmosphere. OC is calculated as OC 1 + OC 2 + OC 3 + OC 4 + OP and EC as EC 1 + EC 2 + EC 3 − OP, where OP is the optical pyrolyzed OC [33]. Detection limits of OC and EC were 0.82 µgC/cm 2 and 0.20 µgC/cm 2 , respectively.…”

Section: Water Soluble Species (Wsoc Wstn/wson and Inorganic Ions)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Summertime Day-Night Differences of PM2.5 Components (Inorganic Ions, OC, EC, WSOC, WSON, HULIS, and PAHs) in Changzhou, China

et al. 2017

Atmosphere

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increase during daytime, while NO 3 − concentration decreases by a factor of three from nighttime to daytime due to its semi-volatile nature. PAHs, EC, and WSON show higher mass concentration in the night too. Mass ratios of WSOC to OC are high in both day and night, indicating that secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation could occur throughout the day, while the slightly higher ratio during daytime suggests a more significant contribution from daytime photochemical oxidation. Strong positive correlations between HULIS-C and WSOC, and HULIS-C with O 3 both in day and night, imply that HULIS-C, similar to WSOC, is mainly composed of secondary species. HULIS-C accounted for a large fraction of WSOC, with an average of~60%. Moreover, the average WSON concentrations are 1.08 and 1.46 µg/m 3 , constituting~16% and~18% of water-soluble total nitrogen in day and night, respectively. Correlation analyses suggest that WSON is also predominantly produced from secondary processes. PAHs concentrations are found to be very low in summer aerosols. Overall, our findings highlight the dominant contribution of secondary processes to the major aerosol components in Changzhou, suggesting proper measures to effectively reduce gaseous precursors are also important to improve air quality.

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Aerosol characteristics and sources in Yangzhou, China resolved by offline aerosol mass spectrometry and other techniques

Cited by 90 publications

References 60 publications

Chemical and Light Extinction Characteristics of Atmospheric Aerosols in Suburban Nanjing, China

Chemical and Light Extinction Characteristics of Atmospheric Aerosols in Suburban Nanjing, China

Ultrasonic nebulization for the elemental analysis of microgram-level samples with offline aerosol mass spectrometry

Summertime Day-Night Differences of PM2.5 Components (Inorganic Ions, OC, EC, WSOC, WSON, HULIS, and PAHs) in Changzhou, China

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