Chemical and isotopic characterization of carbonaceous aerosols from an intensive aerosol sampling in Shanghai, China

With the rapid urbanization and industrialization in Chinese cities, the urban environment has suffered various air pollution problems. In this light, a study on the pollution and its precursors was carried out. Carbonaceous aerosols were measured in September 2009 in Pudong, Shanghai. Concentration levels and temporal variations of organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), char, soot, n-alkanes, and 17 PAH in PM_2.5 were examined to obtain the characteristics of carbonaceous aerosols. The existence of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) was observed; char/soot ratios indicated the dominant primary contributions from motor vehicle exhaust and coal combustion rather than biomass burning to EC particles. The diagnostic ratios from PAH indicated dominant contribution from coal combustion to organic species and the existence of large amount of SOA. The average relative contributions of coal combustion, motor vehicle exhaust, other primary sources, e.g., marine, soil, and biogenic emissions, and SOA in total carbon were 41.4%, 20.6%, 7.3%, and 30.6%, respectively. The combined analyses of OC and EC, n-alkanes and PAH, and stable carbon isotopes provide a new way to identify the sources of the particulate carbonaceous pollutions. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 105th AWMA Annual Conference and Exhibition 2012 (San Antonio, TX 6/19-22/2012).