Abstract
This study investigated the spatiotemporal variation and source characteristics of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in Kaohsiung Harbor, one of the busiest ports in the world. The VOCs’ potential to form ozone (O3) and secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) was also examined. The temporal variation was studied in February, May, July, and November of 2020, while the spatial distribution was investigated in the export processing zone (KEPZ) and at the two port entrances (E1 and E2). The most polluted month in the harbor was November (37.7 ± 12.6 ppbv), while the most polluted site was the industrial area (KEPZ). A significant positive correlation was found between VOCs and O3 (r = 0.985). Meanwhile, a moderate positive correlation (r = 0.449) was observed between VOCs and secondary organic aerosol formation potential (SOAFP), mainly affected by the concentration of toluene in the study area. The diagnostic ratios indicated that the air parcels in the site were “fresh,” and three possible ambient sources of VOC were identified by the positive matrix factorization (PMF): industrial emissions (53.6%), freight transport emissions (29.6%), and others (17.7%). The study highlights the current state of VOCs and their potential sources in the port city of Kaohsiung, which can be used to enhance the strategies for regulating and controlling industrial activities and improving air pollution control measures to reduce VOC emissions.
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The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The authors appreciate the financial support from the Higher Education Cultivation Program on the characteristics of marine research in 2022, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST), Taiwan, under grant No. 111E9010P01.
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Thi-Hieu Le contributed to the data curation, formal analysis, visualization, writing—original draft, and writing—review and editing. Chitsan Lin contributed to the conceptualization, funding acquisition, methodology, supervision, writing—review and editing, and project administration. Duy-Hieu Nguyen contrbuted to the data curation, formal analysis, and writing—original draft. Nicholas Kiprotich Cheruiyot contributed to the visualization and writing—review and editing. Chung-Shin Yuan contributed to the methodology and supervision. Chung-Hsuang Hung contributed to the conceptualization and investigation.
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Le, TH., Lin, C., Nguyen, DH. et al. Volatile organic compounds in ambient air of a major Asian port: spatiotemporal variation and source apportionment. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 28718–28729 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24138-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24138-7