scholarly journals Source apportionment of submicron organic aerosols at an urban site by factor analytical modelling of aerosol mass spectra

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 1503-1522 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. A. Lanz ◽  
M. R. Alfarra ◽  
U. Baltensperger ◽  
B. Buchmann ◽  
C. Hueglin ◽  
...  

Abstract. Submicron ambient aerosol was characterized in summer 2005 at an urban background site in Zurich, Switzerland, during a three-week measurement campaign. Highly time-resolved samples of non-refractory aerosol components were analyzed with an Aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS). Positive matrix factorization (PMF) was used for the first time for aerosol mass spectra to identify the main components of the total organic aerosol and their sources. The PMF retrieved factors were compared to measured reference mass spectra and were correlated with tracer species of the aerosol and gas phase measurements from collocated instruments. Six factors were found to explain virtually all variance in the data and could be assigned either to sources or to aerosol components such as oxygenated organic aerosol (OOA). Our analysis suggests that at the measurement site only a small (<10%) fraction of organic PM1 originates from freshly emitted fossil fuel combustion. Other primary sources identified to be of similar or even higher importance are charbroiling (10–15%) and wood burning (~10%). The fraction of all identified primary sources is considered as primary organic aerosol (POA). This interpretation is supported by calculated ratios of the modelled POA and measured primary pollutants such as elemental carbon (EC), NOx, and CO, which are in good agreement to literature values. A high fraction (60–69%) of the measured organic aerosol mass is OOA which is interpreted mostly as secondary organic aerosol (SOA). This oxygenated organic aerosol can be separated into a highly aged fraction, OOA I, (40–50%) with low volatility and a mass spectrum similar to fulvic acid, and a more volatile and probably less processed fraction, OOA II (on average 20%). This is the first publication of a multiple component analysis technique to AMS organic spectral data and also the first report of the OOA II component.

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 11681-11725 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. A. Lanz ◽  
M. R. Alfarra ◽  
U. Baltensperger ◽  
B. Buchmann ◽  
C. Hueglin ◽  
...  

Abstract. Submicron ambient aerosol was characterized in summer 2005 at an urban background site in Zurich, Switzerland, during a three-week measurement campaign. Highly time-resolved samples of non-refractory aerosol components were analyzed with an Aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS). Positive matrix factorization (PMF) was used for the first time for AMS data to identify the main components of the total organic aerosol and their sources. The PMF retrieved factors were compared to measured reference mass spectra and were correlated with tracer species of the aerosol and gas phase measurements from collocated instruments. Six factors were found to explain virtually all variance in the data and could be assigned either to sources or to aerosol components such as oxygenated organic aerosol (OOA). Our analysis suggests that at the measurement site only a small (<10%) fraction of organic PM1 originates from freshly emitted fossil fuel combustion. Other primary sources identified to be of similar or even higher importance are charbroiling (10–15%) and wood burning (~10%), along with a minor source interpreted to be influenced by food cooking (6%). The fraction of all identified primary sources is considered as primary organic aerosol (POA). This interpretation is supported by calculated ratios of the modelled POA and measured primary pollutants such as elemental carbon (EC), NOx, and CO, which are in good agreement to literature values. A high fraction (60–69%) of the measured organic aerosol mass is OOA which is interpreted mostly as secondary organic aerosol (SOA). This oxygenated organic aerosol can be separated into a highly aged fraction, OOA I, (40–50%) with low volatility and a mass spectrum similar to fulvic acid, and a more volatile and probably less processed fraction, OOA II (on average 20%). This is the first publication of a multiple component analysis technique to AMS organic spectral data and also the first report of the OOA II component.


2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 21237-21257 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.-Y. He ◽  
Y. Lin ◽  
X.-F. Huang ◽  
S. Guo ◽  
L. Xue ◽  
...  

Abstract. Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) has proved to be a powerful tool to measure submicron particulate composition with high time resolution. Factor analysis of mass spectra (MS) collected worldwide by AMS demonstrates that submicron organic aerosol (OA) is usually composed of several major components, such as oxygenated (OOA), hydrocarbon-like (HOA), biomass burning (BBOA), and other primary OA. In order to help interpretation of component MS from factor analysis of ambient OA datasets, AMS measurement of different primary sources is required for comparison. Such work, however, has been very scarce in the literature, especially for high resolution MS (HR-MS) measurement, which performs improved characterization by separating the ions of different elemental compositions at each m/z in comparison with unit mass resolution MS (UMR-MS) measurement. In this study, primary emissions from four types of Chinese cooking (CC) and six types of biomass burning (BB) were simulated systemically and measured using an Aerodyne High-Resolution Time-of-Flight AMS (HR-ToF-AMS). The MS of the CC emissions show high similarity with m/z 41 and m/z 55 being the highest signals; the MS of the BB emissions also show high similarity with m/z 29 and m/z 43 being the highest signals. The MS difference between the CC and BB emissions is much bigger than that between different CC (or BB) types, especially for the HR-MS. The O/C ratio of OA ranges from 0.08 to 0.13 for the CC emissions while from 0.18 to 0.26 for the BB emissions. The ions of m/z 43, m/z 44, m/z 57, and m/z 60, usually used as tracer ions in AMS measurement, were examined for their HR-MS characteristics in the CC and BB emissions. Moreover, the MS of the CC and BB emissions are also used to compare with component MS from factor analysis of ambient OA datasets observed in China, as well as with other AMS measurements of primary sources in the literature. The MS signatures of cooking and biomass burning emissions revealed in this study can be used as important reference in factor analysis of ambient OA datasets, especially for the relevant studies in East Asia.


2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (23) ◽  
pp. 11535-11543 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.-Y. He ◽  
Y. Lin ◽  
X.-F. Huang ◽  
S. Guo ◽  
L. Xue ◽  
...  

Abstract. Aerosol mass spectrometry has proved to be a powerful tool to measure submicron particulate composition with high time resolution. Factor analysis of mass spectra (MS) collected worldwide by aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) demonstrates that submicron organic aerosol (OA) is usually composed of several major components, such as oxygenated (OOA), hydrocarbon-like (HOA), biomass burning (BBOA), and other primary OA. In order to help interpretation of component MS from factor analysis of ambient OA datasets, AMS measurements of different primary sources is required for comparison. Such work, however, has been very scarce in the literature, especially for high resolution MS (HR-MS) measurements, which performs improved characterization by separating the ions of different elemental composition at each m/z in comparison with unit mass resolution MS (UMR-MS) measurements. In this study, primary emissions from four types of Chinese cooking (CC) and six types of biomass burning (BB) were simulated systematically and measured using an Aerodyne High-Resolution Time-of-Flight AMS (HR-ToF-AMS). The MS of the CC emissions show high similarity, with m/z 41 and m/z 55 being the highest signals; the MS of the BB emissions also show high similarity, with m/z 29 and m/z 43 being the highest signals. The MS difference between the CC and BB emissions is much bigger than that between different CC (or BB) types, especially for the HR-MS. The O/C ratio of OA ranges from 0.08 to 0.13 for the CC emissions and from 0.18 to 0.26 for the BB emissions. The UMR ions of m/z 43, m/z 44, m/z 57, and m/z 60, usually used as tracers in AMS measurements, were examined for their HR-MS characteristics in the CC and BB emissions. In addition, the MS of the CC and BB emissions are also compared with component MS from factor analysis of ambient OA datasets observed in China, as well as with other AMS measurements of primary sources in the literature. The MS signatures of cooking and biomass burning emissions revealed in this study can be used as important reference for factor analysis of ambient OA datasets, especially for the relevant studies in East Asia.


2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. J. Li ◽  
B. P. Lee ◽  
L. Su ◽  
J. C. H. Fung ◽  
C.K. Chan

Abstract. Atmospheric particulate matter (PM) remains poorly understood due to the lack of comprehensive measurements at high time resolution for tracking its dynamic features and the lack of long-term observation for tracking its seasonal variability. Here, we present highly time-resolved and seasonal compositions and characteristics of non-refractory components in PM with a diameter less than 1 μm (NR-PM1) at a suburban site in Hong Kong. The measurements were made with an Aerodyne high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) Air Quality Research Supersite for 4 months, with one in each season of the year. The average NR-PM1 concentration of ~ 15 μg m−3 is higher than those AMS measurements made in South Korea and Japan, but lower than those in North China, the Yangtze River Delta and the nearby Pearl River Delta. The seasonal dependence of the total NR-PM1 monthly averaged concentrations was small, but that of the fractions of the species in NR-PM1 was significant. Site characteristic plays an important role in the relative fractions of species in NR-PM1 and our results are generally consistent with measurements at other non-urban sites in this regard. Detailed analyses were conducted on the AMS data in the aspects of (1) species concentrations, (2) size distributions, (3) degree of oxygenation of organics, and (4) positive matrix factorization (PMF)-resolved organic factors in a seasonal context, as well as with air mass origin from back-trajectory analysis. Sulfate had the highest fraction in NR-PM1 (> 40%), and the surrogates of secondary organic species – semi-volatile oxygenated organic aerosol (SVOOA) and low-volatility oxygenated organic aerosol (LVOOA) – prevailed (~ 80%) in the organic portion of NR-PM1. Local contributions to the organic portion of NR-PM1 at this suburban site was strongly dependent on season. The hydrocarbon-like organic aerosol (HOA) factor related to local traffic emissions contributed > 10% to organic aerosols in spring and summer but only 6–7% in autumn and winter. The cooking organic aerosol (COA) factor contributed > 10% to organic aerosols in winter. With the aid of highly time-resolved data, diurnal patterns of the degree of oxygenation of organic aerosols were used to determine the sources and formation processes of the least understood organic portion of PM. The oxygen-to-carbon atomic ratio (O : C) and average carbon oxidation state OS C) showed little variation in autumn and winter, when the long-range transport of oxidized organics dominated, whereas they peaked in the afternoon in spring and summer, when locally produced secondary organic aerosol prevailed. Air mass origin, in contrast, had a strong influence on both NR-PM1 concentrations and the fractions of species in NR-PM1. The findings of the current study provide a better understanding of the role of air mass origin in the seasonal characteristics of the PM composition and the relative importance of local vs. transported organic aerosols in this region.


2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julija Pauraitė ◽  
Steigvilė Byčenkienė ◽  
Kristina Plauškaitė ◽  
Algirdas Augustaitis ◽  
Vitas Marozas ◽  
...  

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by trees in response to abiotic stress evoke high levels of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) compounds. Few techniques exist to provide chemically-resolved submicron (PM1) particle mass concentrations and source apportionment of stress-induced emissions from trees and SOA formation. The chemical composition of atmospheric aerosol particles was characterized using an aerosol chemical speciation monitor (ACSM) at a mixed-mature forest site – the Aukštaitija Integrated Monitoring Station in the eastern part of Lithuania. The organic fraction of PM1 consisted of SOA (76%) and of anthropogenic combustion related primary organic aerosol (POA) (24%). The analysis of tree trunk circumference revealed three shrinkage and three normal increase episodes. During the episodes of tree trunk circumference shrinkage, several m/z signal (m/z 42, 43, 45, 48, 50) intensities were found to be magnified together with the daily SOA concentration. The stress response analysis confirm that tree trunk circumference shrinkage may be observed through the enhancement of selected m/z signals and result in increased SOA levels.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 5235-5249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuangyou Yu ◽  
Qiao Zhu ◽  
Ke Du ◽  
Xiao-Feng Huang

Abstract. Organic nitrates are important atmospheric species that significantly affect the cycling of NOx and ozone production. However, characterization of particulate organic nitrates and their sources in polluted atmosphere is a big challenge and has not been comprehensively studied in Asia. In this study, an aerodyne high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) was deployed at an urban site in China from 2015 to 2016 to characterize particulate organic nitrates in total nitrates with a high time resolution. Based on the cross-validation of two different data processing methods, organic nitrates were effectively quantified to contribute a notable fraction of organic aerosol (OA), namely 9 %–21 % in spring, 11 %–25 % in summer, and 9 %–20 % in autumn, while contributing a very small fraction in winter. The good correlation between organic nitrates and fresh secondary organic aerosol (SOA) at night, as well as the diurnal trend of size distribution of organic nitrates, indicated a key role of nighttime local secondary formation of organic nitrates. Furthermore, theoretical calculations of nighttime SOA production of NO3 reactions with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) measured during the spring campaign were performed, resulting in three biogenic VOCs (α-pinene, limonene, and camphene) and one anthropogenic VOC (styrene) identified as the possible key VOC precursors to particulate organic nitrates. The comparison with similar studies in the literature implied that nighttime particulate organic nitrate formation is highly relevant to NOx levels. This study proposes that unlike the documented cases in the United States and Europe, modeling nighttime particulate organic nitrate formation in China should incorporate not only biogenic VOCs but also anthropogenic VOCs for urban air pollution, which needs the support of relevant smog chamber studies in the future.


2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 2189-2203 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. F. Heringa ◽  
P. F. DeCarlo ◽  
R. Chirico ◽  
T. Tritscher ◽  
M. Clairotte ◽  
...  

Abstract. Organic aerosol (OA) represents a significant and often major fraction of the non-refractory PM1 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter da < 1 μm) mass. Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) is an important contributor to the OA and can be formed from biogenic and anthropogenic precursors. Here we present results from the characterization of SOA produced from the emissions of three different anthropogenic sources. SOA from a log wood burner, a Euro 2 diesel car and a two-stroke Euro 2 scooter were characterized with an Aerodyne high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-TOF-AMS) and compared to SOA from α-pinene. The emissions were sampled from the chimney/tailpipe by a heated inlet system and filtered before injection into a smog chamber. The gas phase emissions were irradiated by xenon arc lamps to initiate photo-chemistry which led to nucleation and subsequent particle growth by SOA production. Duplicate experiments were performed for each SOA type, with the averaged organic mass spectra showing Pearson's r values >0.94 for the correlations between the four different SOA types after five hours of aging. High-resolution mass spectra (HR-MS) showed that the dominant peaks in the MS, m/z 43 and 44, are dominated by the oxygenated ions C2H3O+ and CO2+, respectively, similarly to the relatively fresh semi-volatile oxygenated OA (SV-OOA) observed in the ambient aerosol. The atomic O:C ratios were found to be in the range of 0.25–0.55 with no major increase during the first five hours of aging. On average, the diesel SOA showed the lowest O:C ratio followed by SOA from wood burning, α-pinene and the scooter emissions. Grouping the fragment ions revealed that the SOA source with the highest O:C ratio had the largest fraction of small ions. The HR data of the four sources could be clustered and separated using principal component analysis (PCA). The model showed a significant separation of the four SOA types and clustering of the duplicate experiments on the first two principal components (PCs), which explained 79% of the total variance. Projection of ambient SV-OOA spectra resolved by positive matrix factorization (PMF) showed that this approach could be useful to identify large contributions of the tested SOA sources to SV-OOA. The first results from this study indicate that the SV-OOA in Barcelona is strongly influenced by diesel emissions in winter while in summer at SIRTA at the southwestern edge of Paris SV-OOA is more similar to alpha-pinene SOA. However, contributions to the ambient SV-OOA from SOA sources that are not covered by the model can cause major interference and therefore future expansions of the PCA model with additional SOA sources is recommended.


2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 1969-1988 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. G. Slowik ◽  
A. Vlasenko ◽  
M. McGuire ◽  
G. J. Evans ◽  
J. P. D. Abbatt

Abstract. During the winter component of the SPORT (Seasonal Particle Observations in the Region of Toronto) field campaign, particulate non-refractory chemical composition and concentration of selected volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were measured by an Aerodyne time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) and a proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometer (PTR-MS), respectively. Sampling was performed in downtown Toronto ~15 m from a major road. The mass spectra from the AMS and PTR-MS were combined into a unified dataset, which was analysed using positive matrix factorization (PMF). The two instruments were given balanced weight in the PMF analysis by the application of a scaling factor to the uncertainties of each instrument. A residual based metric, Δesc, was used to evaluate the instrument relative weight within each solution. The PMF analysis yielded a 6-factor solution that included factors characteristic of regional transport, local traffic emissions, charbroiling and oxidative processing. The unified dataset provides information on emission sources (particle and VOC) and atmospheric processing that cannot be obtained from the datasets of the individual instruments: (1) apportionment of oxygenated VOCs to either direct emission sources or secondary reaction products; (2) improved correlation of oxygenated aerosol factors with photochemical age; and (3) increased detail regarding the composition of oxygenated organic aerosol factors. This analysis represents the first application of PMF to a unified AMS/PTR-MS dataset.


2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 1155-1165 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Duplissy ◽  
P. F. DeCarlo ◽  
J. Dommen ◽  
M. R. Alfarra ◽  
A. Metzger ◽  
...  

Abstract. A hygroscopicity tandem differential mobility analyzer (HTDMA) was used to measure the water uptake (hygroscopicity) of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formed during the chemical and photochemical oxidation of several organic precursors in a smog chamber. Electron ionization mass spectra of the non-refractory submicron aerosol were simultaneously determined with an aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS), and correlations between the two different signals were investigated. SOA hygroscopicity was found to strongly correlate with the relative abundance of the ion signal m/z 44 expressed as a fraction of total organic signal (f44). m/z 44 is due mostly to the ion fragment CO2+ for all types of SOA systems studied, and has been previously shown to strongly correlate with organic O/C for ambient and chamber OA. The analysis was also performed on ambient OA from two field experiments at the remote site Jungfraujoch, and the megacity Mexico City, where similar results were found. A simple empirical linear relation between the hygroscopicity of OA at subsaturated RH, as given by the hygroscopic growth factor (GF) or "ϰorg" parameter, and f44 was determined and is given by ϰorg = 2.2 × f44 − 0.13. This approximation can be further verified and refined as the database for AMS and HTDMA measurements is constantly being expanded around the world. The use of this approximation could introduce an important simplification in the parameterization of hygroscopicity of OA in atmospheric models, since f44 is correlated with the photochemical age of an air mass.


2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (24) ◽  
pp. 11795-11817 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. Craven ◽  
L. D. Yee ◽  
N. L. Ng ◽  
M. R. Canagaratna ◽  
C. L. Loza ◽  
...  

Abstract. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) of high-resolution laboratory chamber aerosol mass spectra is applied for the first time, the results of which are consistent with molecular level MOVI-HRToF-CIMS aerosol-phase and CIMS gas-phase measurements. Secondary organic aerosol was generated by photooxidation of dodecane under low-NOx conditions in the Caltech environmental chamber. The PMF results exhibit three factors representing a combination of gas-particle partitioning, chemical conversion in the aerosol, and wall deposition. The slope of the measured high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) composition data on a Van Krevelen diagram is consistent with that of other low-NOx alkane systems in the same O : C range. Elemental analysis of the PMF factor mass spectral profiles elucidates the combinations of functionality that contribute to the slope on the Van Krevelen diagram.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document