Insight into the environmental monitoring and source apportionment of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in various functional areas

Shuibing Wang,Yuan Liu,Hong Zhang,Xiang Bao,Guijian Liu,Xingyuan Hong,Mingjian Yi

doi:10.1007/s11869-021-01090-y

Abstract

Atmospheric aerosol contamination has caused widespread concern about human and environmental health. However, research about VOCs as an important precursor of secondary aerosols in ambient air is still limited. In this study, VOCs at sites from three typical functional areas in Hefei, China, were monitored using GC–MS/FID. The VOCs in ambient air from different functional areas showed significantly different characteristics. The highest concentrations and the biggest diurnal difference of VOCs were found in the High-tech Zone (industrial area) with serried emission sources. Additionally, lower VOC concentration was observed in Changjiang West Road, the center area of studied city. The VOC concentration in this area is strongly related to other pollutants. The composition of VOCs at all sampling sites showed certain common characteristics, i.e., alkanes, OVOCs, and halogenated hydrocarbons account for more than 75% of the total VOCs’ quality. The High-tech Zone with the highest concentration of VOCs also has the highest proportion of alkanes. Besides, the positive matrix factorization analysis results revealed that vehicle exhaust, LPG volatilization sources, and chemical solvents were the most important VOC emission sources in Hefei. In terms of the contribution of VOC components to the OFP at the three sites, the olefins and alkynes at the Changjiang West Road site and the Science Island site contribute the most significant proportion. In contrast, the OVOCs at the High-tech Zone site contribute the largest proportion.

Highlights

VOCs are important precursors of ozone and secondary aerosols in ambient air (Hatfield and Huff Hartz 2011; He et al 2019)
Where SOAp refers to the generation potential of secondary organic aerosol (SOA); VOCst refers to the concentration of VOCs in ambient air; FVOCr refers to the SOA generation factor (%); and FVOCr and FAC were obtained by smoke chamber experiment
The total VOC (TVOC) concentrations obtained from three monitoring sites in Hefei were significantly different

Summary

Introduction

VOCs are important precursors of ozone and secondary aerosols in ambient air (Hatfield and Huff Hartz 2011; He et al 2019). The increase of VOCs is one of the primary reasons for declining air quality and photochemical contamination (Baudic et al 2016; Yue et al 2017). In eastern China, the increase of ozone concentration in summer has attracted the attention of many researchers, and there are many different views on the causes of increased ozone pollution. Dang et al (2021) believed that the increase of ozone in summer is related to meteorological factors such as weak wind speed and low humidity. By deducting the impact of meteorological changes, some researchers calculated that the increase in ozone in megacities from eastern China was mainly due to changes in source emissions By deducting the impact of meteorological changes, some researchers calculated that the increase in ozone in megacities from eastern China was mainly due to changes in source emissions (Cheng et al 2019; Li et al. Vol.:(0123456789)

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Results

Conclusion