Abstract. Based on published literature and typical
profiles from the Nankai University source library, a total of 3326
chemical profiles of the main primary sources of ambient particulate matter
(PM) across China from 1987 to 2017 are investigated and reviewed to trace the
evolution of their main components and identify the main influencing factors
concerning their evolution. In general, the source chemical profiles are varied
with respect to their sources and are influenced by different sampling methods.
The most complicated profiles are likely attributed to coal combustion (CC) and industrial emissions (IE).
The profiles of vehicle emissions (VE) are dominated by organic carbon (OC) and
elemental carbon (EC), and vary due to the changing standards of sulfur and
additives in gasoline and diesel as well as the sampling methods used. In
addition to the sampling methods used, the profiles of biomass burning (BB) and cooking
emissions (CE) are also impacted by the different biofuel categories and cooking types,
respectively. The variations of the chemical profiles of different sources,
and the homogeneity of the subtype source profiles within the same source
category are examined using uncertainty analysis and cluster analysis. As a
result, a relatively large variation is found in the source profiles of
CC, VE, IE, and BB, indicating that these sources urgently require the establishment of local
profiles due to their high uncertainties. The results presented highlight the
need for further investigation of more specific markers (e.g., isotopes,
organic compounds, and gaseous precursors), in addition to routinely measured
components, in order to properly discriminate sources. Although the chemical profiles of the main sources have
been previously reported in the literature, it should be noted that some of
these chemical profiles are currently out of date and need to be updated
immediately. Additionally, in the future, specific focus should be placed on the
source profile subtypes, especially with respect to local IE in China.
Characteristics of the main primary source profiles of particulate matter across China from 1987 to 2017
