PM10 source apportionment in Milan (Italy) using time-resolved data
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Updated: May 30, 2026

Measuring Sub-23 Nanometer Real Driving Particle Number Emissions Using the Portable DownToTen Sampling System
Published on: May 22, 2020
Vera Bernardoni1, Roberta Vecchi, Gianluigi Valli
1Department of Physics, Università degli Studi di Milano and INFN-Milan, Via Celoria 16, 20133, Milan, Italy. vera.bernardoni@unimi.it
Abstract:
In this work Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) was applied to 4-hour resolved PM10 data collected in Milan (Italy) during summer and winter 2006. PM10 characterisation included elements (Mg-Pb), main inorganic ions (NH(4)(+), NO(3)(-), SO(4)(2-)), levoglucosan and its isomers (mannosan and galactosan), and organic and elemental carbon (OC and EC). PMF resolved seven factors that were assigned to construction works, re-suspended dust, secondary sulphate, traffic, industry, secondary nitrate, and wood burning. Multi Linear Regression was applied to obtain the PM10 source apportionment. The 4-hour temporal resolution allowed the estimation of the factor contributions during peculiar episodes, which would have not been detected with the traditional 24-hour sampling strategy.

