Estimate of Regional and Broad-based Sources for PM2.5Collected in an Industrial Area of Japan

Abstract

In order to estimate the influence of sources on PM 2.5 in the industrial area of Japan, we carried out a source analysis using chemical component data of PM 2.5 . PM 2.5 samples were collected intermittently at an industrial area in Japan from July 2010 to November 2012. Water soluble ions (Cl-, NO₃-, SO₄ 2- , Na+, NH₄+, K+, Mg 2+ , Ca 2+ ), elements (Al, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Sb, Pb), and carbonaceous species (OC, EC) of the PM 2.5 (a total of 198 samples) were analyzed. Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) model was applied to the data of those chemical components to identify the source of PM 2.5 . At this observation site, nine factors were extracted. The major contributors of PM 2.5 were secondary sulfate 1, in which loading factors of SO₄ 2- and NH₄+ were large (percentage source contribution: 20.9%), traffic, in which loading factors of OC (organic carbon) and EC (elemental carbon) were large (20.8%), secondary sulfate 2, in which loading factors of K and SO₄ 2- were large (8.0%), steel mills (7.8%), secondary chloride and nitrate (7.0%), soil (5.0%), heavy oil combustion (3.8%), sea salt (3.8%), and coal combustion (2.3%). The conditional probability function (CPF) and the potential source contribution function (PSCF) were carried out to examine the influence of a regional source and a broad-based source, respectively. CPF results supported local source influences such as steel mills, sea salt, traffic, coal combustion, and heavy oil combustion. PSCF results suggested that ships in the East China Sea, an industrial area of the east coastal region of China, and an active volcano in the Kyushu region of Japan were potential regional sources of secondary sulfate 1. Secondary sulfate 2 was affected by the burning of biomass fields and by coal combustion in Chinese urban areas such as Beijing, Hebei, and western Inner Mongolia. Source characterization using continuous data from one site showed a potential source representing fossil fuel combustion is affected both by regional and broad-based sources.