Radiocarbon analysis on organic and elemental carbon in aerosol samples and source apportionment at an urban site in Northern Italy

Bernardoni, V.; Calzolai, Giulia; Chiari, M.; Fedi, Mariaelena; Lucarelli, F.; Nava, S.; Piazzalunga, A.; Riccobono, Francesco; Taccetti, F.; Valli, G.; Vecchi, R.

doi:10.1016/j.jaerosci.2012.06.001

Cited by 82 publications

(98 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…In this study, about half of the EC was derived from BB in the 10 urban cities (average 46 ± 11 %; range: 24-71 %), which represents a slightly higher proportion than that for the same cities in winter and spring but is similar to previous studies performed in cities in other countries (Szidat et al, 2009;Bernardoni et al, 2013). However, this result differs from those obtained in remote regions dominated by BB (Barrett et al, 2015;Zhang et al, 2014).…”

Section: Radiocarbon Measurementssupporting

confidence: 83%

Sources of non-fossil-fuel emissions in carbonaceous aerosols during early winter in Chinese cities

Liu

Cheng

et al. 2017

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract. China experiences frequent and severe haze outbreaks from the beginning of winter. Carbonaceous aerosols are regarded as an essential factor in controlling the formation and evolution of haze episodes. To elucidate the carbon sources of air pollution, source apportionment was conducted using radiocarbon ( 14 C) and unique molecular organic tracers. Daily 24 h PM 2.5 samples were collected continuously from October 2013 to November 2013 in 10 Chinese cities. The 14 C results indicated that non-fossil-fuel (NF) emissions were predominant in total carbon (TC; average = 65 ± 7 %). Approximately half of the EC was derived primarily from biomass burning (BB) (average = 46±11 %), while over half of the organic carbon (OC) fraction comprised NF (average = 68 ± 7 %). On average, the largest contributor to TC was NF-derived secondary OC (SOC nf ), which accounted for 46 ± 7 % of TC, followed by SOC derived from fossil fuels (FF) (SOC f ; 16 ± 3 %), BB-derived primary OC (POC bb ; 13 ± 5 %), POC derived from FF (POC f ; 12 ± 3 %), EC derived from FF (EC f ; 7±2 %) and EC derived from BB (EC bb ; 6 ± 2 %). The regional background carbonaceous aerosol composition was characterized by NF sources; POCs played a major role in northern China, while SOCs contributed more in other regions. However, during haze episodes, there were no dramatic changes in the carbon source or composition in the cities under study, but the contribution of POC from both FF and NF increased significantly.

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Section: Radiocarbon Measurementssupporting

confidence: 83%

Sources of non-fossil-fuel emissions in carbonaceous aerosols during early winter in Chinese cities

Liu

Cheng

et al. 2017

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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“…OC FF /EC FF average ratio was 3.0 ± 0.7. This value was higher than the ratio expected for primary emission (e.g., [65] and therein-cited literature), but it was compatible to the average OC FF /EC FF previously found in Milan from 14 C measurements (2.3 ± 0.8) within variability [41]. OC WB /EC WB average ratio was 10 ± 3.…”

Section: Results From the Milan Datasetsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…Milan is situated in the Po Valley, which is one of the main hot-spot pollution areas in Europe. For this reason, different source apportionment studies by receptor models based on chemical characterization were carried out in the last decade on integrated aerosol size-fractions (e.g., [39][40][41][42]) and on suitably characterized [43] size-segregated samples [44]. These works evidenced that the site is impacted by a complex mixture of sources; traffic (both exhaust and non-exhaust), wood burning, re-suspended dust, and industry were identified as the main primary sources, but secondary compounds play a key role in explaining the total measured mass.…”

Section: Sites and Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, α WB = 1.8 was used also in this work for the Propata dataset. In the case of Milan, performing the same choice led to an unreasonably high contribution from wood burning compared to previous studies based on 14 C measurements [41] or Positive Matrix Factorization on well chemically characterized samples [40,42]. So, we finally chose α WB = 2 in Milan.…”

Section: Optical Source and Component Apportionment: The Multi-wavelementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this way, the second component can be obtained by the tracer using a suitable emission ratio. The approach is widely used in the literature for OC source apportionment, e.g., based on 14 C measurements [41,62]. The approach has already been extended in source apportionment studies based on optical properties, with further assumptions on proportionality between species and optical properties [18][19][20].…”

Section: Oc Source Apportionmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The Multi-Wavelength Absorption Analyzer (MWAA) Model as a Tool for Source and Component Apportionment Based on Aerosol Absorption Properties: Application to Samples Collected in Different Environments

Bernardoni

Pileci

Caponi³

et al. 2017

Atmosphere

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Abstract:The multi-wavelength absorption analyzer model (MWAA model) was recently proposed to provide a source (fossil fuel combustion vs. wood burning) and a component (black carbon BC vs. brown carbon BrC) apportionment of b abs measured at different wavelengths, and to provide the BrC Ångström Absorption exponent (α BrC ). This paper shows MWAA model performances and issues when applied to samples impacted by different sources. To this aim, the MWAA model was run on samples collected at a rural (Propata) and an urban (Milan) site in Italy during the winter period. Lower uncertainties on α BrC and a better correlation of the BrC absorption coefficient (b abs BrC ) with levoglucosan (tracer for wood burning) were obtained in Propata (compared to Milan).Nevertheless, the correlation previously mentioned improved, especially in Milan, when providing a priori information on α BrC to MWAA. Possible reasons for this improvement could be the more complex mixture of sources present in Milan and the aging processes, which can affect aerosol composition, particle mixing, and size distribution. OC and EC source apportionment showed that wood burning was the dominating contributor to the carbonaceous fractions in Propata, whereas a more complex situation was detected in Milan. Simultaneous b abs (BC) apportionment and EC measurements allowed MAC determination, which gave analogous results at the two sites.

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Diurnal cycle of fossil and nonfossil carbon using radiocarbon analyses during CalNex

et al. 2014

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Radiocarbon ( 14 C) analysis is a unique tool to distinguish fossil/nonfossil sources of carbonaceous aerosols. We present 14 C measurements of organic carbon (OC) and total carbon (TC) on highly time resolved filters (3-4 h, typically 12 h or longer have been reported) from 7 days collected during California Research at the Nexus of Air Quality and Climate Change (CalNex) 2010 in Pasadena. Average nonfossil contributions of 58% ± 15% and 51% ± 15% were found for OC and TC, respectively. Results indicate that nonfossil carbon is a major constituent of the background aerosol, evidenced by its nearly constant concentration (2-3 μgC m À3). Cooking is estimated to contribute at least 25% to nonfossil OC, underlining the importance of urban nonfossil OC sources. In contrast, fossil OC concentrations have prominent and consistent diurnal profiles, with significant afternoon enhancements (~3 μgC m À3 ), following the arrival of the western Los Angeles (LA) basin plume with the sea breeze. A corresponding increase in semivolatile oxygenated OC and organic vehicular emission markers and their photochemical reaction products occurs. This suggests that the increasing OC is mostly from fresh anthropogenic secondary OC (SOC) from mainly fossil precursors formed in the western LA basin plume. We note that in several European cities where the diesel passenger car fraction is higher, SOC is 20% less fossil, despite 2-3 times higher elemental carbon concentrations, suggesting that SOC formation from gasoline emissions most likely dominates over diesel in the LA basin. This would have significant implications for our understanding of the on-road vehicle contribution to ambient aerosols and merits further study.

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Radiocarbon analysis on organic and elemental carbon in aerosol samples and source apportionment at an urban site in Northern Italy

Cited by 82 publications

References 63 publications

Sources of non-fossil-fuel emissions in carbonaceous aerosols during early winter in Chinese cities

Sources of non-fossil-fuel emissions in carbonaceous aerosols during early winter in Chinese cities

The Multi-Wavelength Absorption Analyzer (MWAA) Model as a Tool for Source and Component Apportionment Based on Aerosol Absorption Properties: Application to Samples Collected in Different Environments

Diurnal cycle of fossil and nonfossil carbon using radiocarbon analyses during CalNex

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