Secondary Organic Aerosols in PM_2.5 in Bengbu, a Typical City in Central China: Concentration, Seasonal Variation and Sources

• Main Authors: Shiwei Zhang, Hao Tang, Qing Li, Liang Li, Chaojun Ge, Li Li, Jialiang Feng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-06-01
• Series: Atmosphere
• Subjects: PM_2.5; secondary organic carbon; organic tracer; source apportionment; central China
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/12/7/854

To investigate the concentration, seasonal variation, and sources of secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) in the inland areas of central China, 244 seasonal PM_2.5 samples were collected from January to October 2019 at one urban site and one suburban site simultaneously in Bengbu of Anhui Province. Concentrations of organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), and typical organic tracers, including saccharides, tracers of SOAs from isoprene, terpenes, and toluene, were measured. Results showed that Bengbu has high pollution levels of organic aerosols, with annual average OC concentrations of about 9.5 μg m⁻³. About 60% of the OC in PM_2.5 in Bengbu was water soluble. Different seasonal trends were found for the SOA tracers of isoprene, monoterpene, seisquiterpene, and toluene. The highest seasonal average concentration of the isoprene SOA tracers was observed in summer and of the monoterpene and seisquiterpene SOA tracers in autumn. A stronger correlation was found between the 2-methylglyceric acid-to-2-methyltetrol ratio (MGA/MTL) and ambient temperature than that between MGA/MTLs and NO_X concentration, suggesting that temperature has an important impact on the MGA/MTL ratio besides NO_X concentration. The OC/EC-based method, WSOC-based method, tracer yield method, and positive matrix factorization (PMF)-based method were used to estimate the concentration and sources of secondary organic carbon (SOC), and the PMF-based method was believed to be able to give reasonable results. SOC was the main contributor of WSOC in PM_2.5 in Bengbu, while biomass burning made an important contribution to WSOC in autumn and winter (~40%). SOC was mainly associated with SOA tracers in summer and mainly associated with secondary ions in spring and winter, suggesting different formation mechanisms in different seasons.