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Source Apportionment of Volatile Organic Compounds in an Urban Environment at the Yangtze River Delta, China

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Abstract

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were collected continuously during June–August 2013 and December 2013–February 2014 at an urban site in Nanjing in the Yangtze River Delta. The positive matrix factorization receptor model was used to analyse the sources of VOCs in different seasons. Eight and seven sources were identified in summer and winter, respectively. In summer and winter, the dominant sources of VOCs were vehicular emissions, liquefied petroleum gas/natural gas (LPG/NG) usage, solvent usage, biomass/biofuel burning, and industrial production. In summer, vehicular emissions made the most significant contribution to ambient VOCs (38%), followed by LPG/NG usage (20%), solvent usage (19%), biomass/biofuel burning (13%), and industrial production (10%). In winter, LPG/NG usage accounted for 36% of ambient VOCs, whereas vehicular emissions, biomass/biofuel burning, industrial production and solvent usage contributed 30, 18, 9, and 6%, respectively. The contribution of LPG/NG usage in winter was approximately four times that in summer, whereas the contribution from biomass/biofuel burning in winter was more than twice that in summer. The sources related to vehicular emissions and LPG/NG usages were important. Using conditional probability function analysis, the VOC sources were mainly associated with easterly, northeasterly and southeasterly directions, pointing towards the major expressway and industrial area. Using the propylene-equivalent method, paint and varnish (23%) was the highest source of VOCs in summer and biomass/biofuel burning (36%) in winter. Using the ozone formation potential method, the most important source was biomass/biofuel burning (32% in summer and 47% in winter). The result suggests that the biomass/biofuel burning and paint and varnish play important roles in controlling ozone chemical formation in Nanjing.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41305135 and 91544229), the Chinese Academy of Sciences Strategic Priority Research Program (Grant No. XDB05020206), and the Qing Lan Project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster, Ministry of Education (KLME)/Joint International Research Laboratory of Climate and Environment Change (ILCEC)/Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters (CIC-FEMD)/Key Laboratory for Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation of China Meteorological Administration, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China

    Junlin An, Junxiu Wang, Yuxin Zhang & Bin Zhu

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  1. Junlin An
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  2. Junxiu Wang
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  3. Yuxin Zhang
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Correspondence to Junlin An.

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An, J., Wang, J., Zhang, Y. et al. Source Apportionment of Volatile Organic Compounds in an Urban Environment at the Yangtze River Delta, China. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 72, 335–348 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-017-0371-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-017-0371-3

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