Quantitative Assessment of PM2.5 Sources and Their Seasonal Variation in Krakow

Abstract

In industry areas of Poland such as Silesia or urban sites like Krakow and some other cities, the levels of pollutants frequently breach air quality standards. Particulate matter (PM) is the most important constituent of atmospheric pollution. Beginning on 1st February 2014 until 31st January 2015, the samples of fine particulate matter PM2.5 (aerodynamic diameter of particles less than or equal to 2.5 μm) were collected at a site in the south-eastern Krakow urban background area. During this period, 194 samples were taken. The samples showed daily variation of PM2.5 concentration. From these data, monthly variations were estimated and presented in this paper. Monthly integrated data are more representative for the Krakow urban background and show seasonal variation of PM2.5 pollution. The lowest monthly concentration value was found for August 2014—about 10 μg m−3, the highest for February 2014–70 μg m−3, whereas the average annual value was about 31 μg/m3. Utilizing X-ray fluorescence method, concentrations of 15 elements for each sample were determined and 8 inorganic ions were analyzed by ion chromatography. Additionally, the samples were analyzed for black carbon (BC). Receptor model PMF (positive matrix factorization) was used for source identification and apportionment. The modeling identified six sources and their quantitative contributions to PM2.5 total mass. The following sources were identified: combustion, secondary nitrate and sulfate, biomass burning, industry or/and soil and traffic. Finally, monthly variations of each source are presented.

Sources and geographic origin of particulate matter in urban areas of the Danube macro-region: The cases of Zagreb (Croatia), Budapest (Hungary) and Sofia (Bulgaria)

“…Elemental concentrations in ZGR, were measured by ED-XRF (energy dispersive-X-ray diffraction) technique for 22 elements in PM 2.5 ( IAEA, 2013 , EPA, 1999 ). In BDP, elemental concentrations were measured by PIXE for 16 elements ( Furu et al, 2015 ), and by ED-XRF for 5 trace elements (Co, Cr, Rb, Se, Sr) ( Osán et al, 2001 , Samek et al, 2017 ) in PM 2.5 samples. For SOF, the analysis of elements was performed using ED-XRF ( Veleva et al, 2014 ) for the quantification of 25 elements in PM 10 samples.…”

Air Quality Management in Poland

“…As confirmed by source-apportionment studies in Poland, specifically for Warsaw and Krakow (Holnicki et al, 2017, Samek et al, 2017, a substantial part of PM2.5 pollution is contributed by secondary aerosols. These aerosols are described as regional scale pollution and long-range transport species.…”

Spatio-temporal variability of annual PM2.5 concentrations and population exposure assessment in Serbia for the period 2001-2016

“…In dwellings with central heating (20.6% of the total occupied dwellings in Serbia), wood (46.2%) is predominantly used for heating, followed by coаl (25.4%) and gaseous fuels (18.4%), while in dwellings with district heating (22.1% of the total occupied dwellings in Serbia), gaseous fuels (30.4%) and oil fuels (26.1%) are mostly used, followed by coаl and wood (21.7% and 17.3%) (Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, 2013). The household heating is the leading source of the emissions of PM2.5 in many regions in the world (Karagulian et al, 2015;Saarikoski et al, 2008;Samek et al 2017;Xiao, Ma, Li, & Liu, 2015). The road transport sector contributed with 6%, while the share of industry was 9% in the total PM2.5 emissions in 2018 in Serbia (Jovanović, 2019).…”