Pollution Characteristics of Carbonaceous Components in PM10 and PM2.5 of Road Dust Fall and Soil Dust in Xi'an

Abstract

To investigate the pollution characteristics of carbonaceous components in PM10 and PM2.5 of road dust fall and soil dust in Xi'an and enrich their source profiles, samples from five sites of road dust fall and 16 sites of soil dust were collected in Xi'an from April to May 2015. The ZDA-CY01 particulate matter resuspension sampler was used to obtain PM10 and PM2.5 samples, and the Model5L-NDIR OC and EC analyzer were used to determine the concentrations of organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) in PM10 and PM2.5. The pollution and sources of carbonaceous aerosol in PM10 and PM2.5 were investigated by analyzing OC and EC characteristics, ratio, and the principal component analysis statistical model. The results showed that the proportions of OC in PM10 and PM2.5 at the various dust fall sites differed, ranging from 6.0% to 19.4% and 7.6% to 29.8%, respectively. The ratios of EC in PM10 and PM2.5at the different dust fall sites were relatively small, accounting for 0.6%-2.2% and 0.2%-3.6% in urban sites, respectively; however, EC was almost undetectable in most peripheral soil dust. The proportions of carbonaceous components in PM10 and PM2.5 followed the order of urban road dust fall>external control dust>river beach soil dust>soil dust and urban road dust fall>soil dust>external control dust>river beach soil dust, respectively. OC dominated the carbonaceous aerosols at the different sites, which was relatively low in urban road dust fall. The OC to total carbon (TC) ratios in PM10 and PM2.5 at urban road dust fall were 85.2%-95.3% and 87.9%-98.9%, respectively. The OC to TC ratios in PM10 and PM2.5 of soil dust were relatively high, exceeding 99%. Carbonaceous components were primarily concentrated in fine particles. The pollution distribution of carbonaceous components in the urban road dust fall sites was consistent, whereas that in the different soil dust sites were quite different. The carbonaceous components in urban road dust fall and soil dust were primarily affected by pollutant source emissions such as biomass burning, coal burning, gasoline, and diesel vehicle exhaust. There were differences in the source contribution rates of carbonaceous aerosols in PM10 and PM2.5.