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Spatial Distribution and Formation Mechanism of Water-soluble Inorganic Ions in PM2.5 During a Typical Winter Haze Episode in Guilin, China

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Abstract

A 5-day PM2.5 sampling campaign was conducted during a typical haze episode from December 16 to 20, 2016, at five urban sites and one background site in Guilin, a famous tourist city in Southern China. A total of 30 PM2.5 samples were collected, and water-soluble inorganic ions (WSII) (SO42−, NO3−, NH4+, Ca2+, K+, Cl−, Na+, and Mg2+) were determined using ion chromatography. Correlation analysis, principal component analysis, and coefficient of divergence were applied to identify the formation mechanisms of secondary inorganic ions, potential sources, and spatial distribution of WSII. The average mass concentrations of PM2.5 at each sampling site were 71.6–127.85 μg m−3, which were more than the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (GB3095-2012, GradeII (35 μg m−3)) in China. SO42− NO3−, and NH4+ were the major WSII, accounting for 34.43–40.59% of PM2.5 mass. NO3−/SO42− ratio revealed that stationary sources-induced PM2.5 was still remarkable. Cl−/Na+ ratio and their strong correlation (r = 0.824) indicated that atmospheric transport from outside urban region played an effective role during the haze episode. Spatial variations of WSII are not pronounced at five urban sites except the background site. High relative humidity and O3 contributed to evidently influence the transformation of SO2 to SO42− but not obvious to NOx oxidation. Finally, the major sources of WSII are identified as the mixture of sea salt, coal combustion, biomass burning, vehicle exhaust and agricultural emissions (66.892%), and fugitive sources (19.7%).

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Acknowledgements

Many thanks for the financial support by the Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi province (2018GXNSFAA294147), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51968007), Key Laboratory of Ecology of Rare and Endangered Species and Environmental Protection (Guangxi Normal University). The authors also thank the support of Guilin Environmental Monitoring Central Station for the sample collection and water-soluble ions analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering, School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, Hunan, China

    Tengfa Long, Bin Peng, Zhihui Yang, Cynthia Sabrine Ishimwe & Chongjian Tang

  2. Key Laboratory of Ecology of Rare and Endangered Species and Environmental Protection (Guangxi Normal University), Ministry of Education, Guilin, China

    Tengfa Long & Shan Zhong

  3. Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Control and Treatment of Heavy Metal Pollution, Changsha, 410083, Hunan, China

    Bin Peng, Zhihui Yang, Cynthia Sabrine Ishimwe & Chongjian Tang

  4. College of Environment and Resource, Guangxi Normal University, 15th YuCai St. QiXing District, Guilin, 541004, China

    Tengfa Long, Ning Zhao, Hong Lin, Kai Zhong & Shan Zhong

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  1. Tengfa Long
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  2. Bin Peng
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Correspondence to Tengfa Long.

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Long, T., Peng, B., Yang, Z. et al. Spatial Distribution and Formation Mechanism of Water-soluble Inorganic Ions in PM2.5 During a Typical Winter Haze Episode in Guilin, China. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 78, 367–376 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-019-00699-6

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