Industrial sources of primary and secondary organic aerosols in two urban environments in Spain.

Abstract

In urban areas, primary and secondary organic aerosols are typically considered to originate from vehicular traffic emissions. However, industrial emissions within or in the vicinity of urban areas may also be significant contributors to carbonaceous aerosol concentrations. This hypothesis was tested and validated in two urban areas in Spain. The observed unusual dominance of organic carbon (OC) over elemental carbon (EC), the analysis of the variability of OC, EC and OC/EC and their correlation with transport patterns suggested the presence of OC sources associated with industrial activities. A methodology based on chemical speciation of particulate matter (PM) followed by the application of receptor modelling techniques allowed for the identification of the specific industrial sources of OC, which were linked to primary OC emissions from a grain drying plant (cereal) and to secondary OC formation from paper production activities (paper mills), as well as from urban sources and biogenic emissions. This work presents an integrated approach to identifying and characterizing of industrial sources of carbonaceous aerosols in urban areas, aiming to improve the scarce body of literature currently available on this topic.