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Gas-phase ammonia and PM2.5 ammonium in a busy traffic area of Nanjing, China

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Abstract

The gas-phase ammonia (NH3) and fine particle PM2.5 ammonium (pNH4 +) (collectively, NHx) were monitored between July 2013 and August 2014 in a busy traffic area of Nanjing, China. Results showed that PM2.5 concentration was 66.7 μg m−3, and NH3 concentration was 6.66 μg m−3. In the PM2.5, the concentration of pNH4 + was 3.04 μg m−3, SO4 2− (pSO4 2−) was 10.16 μg m−3, and NO3 − (pNO3 −) was 1.60 μg m−3. The significant correlation curves from the tests of PM2.5 revealed that molar ratio of pNH4 + and pSO4 2− was approximately 2, which could be (NH4)2SO4. Particulate NH4 + primarily associated with pSO4 2−, which accounted for 4.54 % of total PM2.5 mass. The PM2.5 observed acidic and the NH3 in the atmosphere neutralized acidic species, mainly in a sulfate form. The traffic intensity in the region was partially related to the formation of PM2.5 and NH3, suggesting that traffic pollution may be an important source of PM2.5. The reaction between NHx and acidic species was assumed to the secondary PM2.5. The neutralization and photochemical property of NHx were discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant no. 21277029, 40975076, Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (Grant: 12DJ1400102), and China Meteorological Administration (Grant: GYHY201106045-8). The authors also thank the support of the National High-Tech R&D Program (“863” Program, No. 2006AA06Z417).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China

    Wenxin Wang, Rui Zhou, Chanzhen Shi & Bin Zhou

  2. Fudan Tyndall Center, Shanghai, China

    Bin Zhou

  3. School of Environment and Architecture, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China

    Shanshan Wang

  4. Nanjing Environmental Monitoring Center, Nanjing, 210013, China

    Jianhua Xu

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  1. Wenxin Wang
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Correspondence to Bin Zhou.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Responsible editor: Gerhard Lammel

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Wang, W., Wang, S., Xu, J. et al. Gas-phase ammonia and PM2.5 ammonium in a busy traffic area of Nanjing, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 1691–1702 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5397-3

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