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Characteristics of single atmospheric particles in a heavily polluted urban area of China: size distributions and mixing states

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Abstract

To investigate the chemical composition, size distribution, and mixing state of aerosol particles on heavy pollution days, single-particle aerosol mass spectrometry was conducted during 9–26 October 2015 in Xi’an, China. The measured particles were classified into six major categories: biomass burning (BB) particles, K-secondary particles, elemental carbon (EC)–related particles, metal-containing particles, dust, and organic carbon (OC) particles. BB and EC-related particles were the dominant types during the study period and mainly originated from biomass burning, vehicle emissions, and coal combustion. According to the ambient air quality index, two typical episodes were defined: clean days (CDs) and polluted days (PDs). Accumulation of BB particles and EC-related particles was the main reason for the pollution in Xi’an. Most types of particle size were larger on PDs than CDs. Each particle type was mixed with secondary species to different degrees on CDs and PDs, indicating that atmospheric aging occurred. The mixing state results demonstrated that the primary tracers were oxidized or vanished and that the amount of secondary species was increased on PDs. This study provides valuable information and a dataset to help control air pollution in the urban areas of Xi’an.

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Funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41503118 and 41661144020) and National Atmospheric Research Program (2017YFC0212200).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Aerosol Chemistry and Physics, State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an, 710075, China

    Li Li, Qiyuan Wang, Jiamao Zhou, Suixin Liu, Ting Zhang, Wenting Dai, Yongming Han & Junji Cao

  2. CAS Center for Excellence in Quaternary Science and Global Change, Xi’an, 710061, China

    Qiyuan Wang & Junji Cao

  3. Xi’an Environmental Monitor Station, Xi’an, 710061, China

    Xu Zhang

  4. Xi’an Thermal Power Research Institute Co., Ltd., Xi’an, 710032, China

    Yuanyuan She

  5. Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing, 400714, China

    Yang Chen

  6. Hainan Tropical Ocean University, Sanya, 572022, China

    Ping Wang

  7. Institute of Global Environmental Change, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Junji Cao

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  1. Li Li
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  2. Qiyuan Wang
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  3. Xu Zhang
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Li, L., Wang, Q., Zhang, X. et al. Characteristics of single atmospheric particles in a heavily polluted urban area of China: size distributions and mixing states. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 11730–11742 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-04579-3

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