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Abstract
Atmospheric particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) were collected at two sites located in the urban area of the city of Cuernavaca (Morelos) during a season when a large number of forest fires occurred. Three dicarboxylic acids (malonic, glutaric and succinic) and levoglucosan were analyzed by liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (ESI-Q-TOF) and soluble potassium (K+) was analyzed by ion chromatography. The concentration of PM2.5 increased on the days when the highest number of forest fires occurred. A strong correlation was observed between levoglucosan and K+, confirming the hypothesis that both are tracers of biomass burning (r = 0.57, p < 0.05). Levoglucosan (average 367.6 ng m−3, Site 2) was the most abundant compound, followed by succinic acid (average 101.7 ng m−3, Site 2), glutaric acid (average 63.2 ng m−3, Site 2), and malonic acid (average 46.9 ng m−3, Site 2), respectively. The ratio of C3/C4 concentrations ranged from 0.5 to 1.2, with an average of 0.8, which suggests great photochemical activity in the Cuernavaca atmosphere. The ratio of K+/levoglucosan concentrations (0.44) indicates that open fires are the main source of these tracers. The positive correlations between PM2.5 and levoglucosan and succinic and malonic acids suggest that such compounds are contributing to secondary organic aerosol particle formation.
Highlights
Biomass burning is a major source of particulate matter in ambient air, with the particles consisting of hundreds of organic and inorganic compounds, causing significant impacts on regional to global air quality [1], human health [2] and climate [3]
Primary organic aerosols (POA) and secondary organic aerosols (SOA) are ubiquitous in the atmosphere, and their proportion will largely depend on emission factors and prevailing weather conditions [7]
The most commonly used organic tracer is levoglucosan, a sugar anhydride produced via pyrolysis of cellulose and hemicelluloses; it is a highly specific molecular marker for biomass burning [13,14]
Summary
Biomass burning is a major source of particulate matter in ambient air, with the particles consisting of hundreds of organic and inorganic compounds, causing significant impacts on regional to global air quality [1], human health [2] and climate [3]. In the pyrolysis of plant products rich in cellulose and hemicellulose, a large number of low molecular weight (LMW) polar compounds have been identified, such as anhydrosugars [8], sugar alcohols [9], primary sugars and oxalic acid (C2 ) [10], as well as several sugar derivatives [11]. These compounds are potentially important molecular markers when trying to determine the source of both anthropogenic and natural aerosols and elucidating the processes and pathways of organics in atmospheric aerosols [12].
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