Comparative study of chemical characterization and source apportionment of PM2.5 in South China by filter-based and single particle analysis

Single particle aerosol mass spectrometers (SPAMS) have created significant interest among atmospheric scientists by virtue of their ability to provide real-time size-resolved information on the chemical composition of aerosols. The objective of this study is to evaluate the newly developed single particle analysis technique in terms of chemical characterization and source apportionment of ambient aerosols by comparing it with traditional filter-based methods. In this study, an air quality monitoring campaign was conducted over a period of 25 days at an urban area in Yulin city, southern China, by employing both SPAMS and traditional filter-based measurements to establish the performance of SPAMS. It was observed that the chemical characterization of particles based on SPAMS did not agree well with the filter-based analysis. Based on the filter analysis, sulfate was the most abundant component in PM2.5 (23.5%), followed by OC (18.1%), while for single particle analysis (number concentration), EC-containing particles showed the largest contribution to PM2.5 (>40%), followed by OC (15.7%). In terms of source apportionment via positive matrix factorization, six sources were identified by each of the two approaches. Both the approaches showed relatively good agreements for secondary species, traffic, and dust sources; however, discrepancies were noted for industry, fossil fuel, and biomass burning sources. Finally, investigation of diurnal profiles and two specific emission episodes monitored during the Chinese New Year and traffic activities demonstrated the relative advantage of single particle analysis over filter-based methods. Overall, single particle analysis can provide source apportionment with a high time resolution, which is helpful for policy makers to analyze and implement emergency control strategies during air pollution episodes. However, SPAMS performs quantification of number concentration rather than mass concentration and is limited to particles larger than 200 nm, which leads to discrepancies between the two methods. SPAMS measurements can therefore not simply replace traditional filter-based analyses, which needs to be carefully considered in the selection of the monitoring implementation.