Wood burning pollution in southern Chile: PM_2.5 source apportionment using CMB and molecular markers

Temuco is a mid-size city representative of severe wood smoke pollution in southern Chile; i.e., ambient 24-h PM_2.5 concentrations have exceeded 150 μg/m³ in the winter season and the top concentration reached 372 μg/m³ in 2010. Annual mean concentrations have decreased but are still above 30 μg/m³. For the very first time, a molecular marker source apportionment of ambient organic carbon (OC) and PM_2.5 was conducted in Temuco. Primary resolved sources for PM_2.5 were wood smoke (37.5%), coal combustion (4.4%), diesel vehicles (3.3%), dust (2.2%) and vegetative detritus (0.7%). Secondary inorganic PM_2.5 (sulfates, nitrates and ammonium) contributed 4.8% and unresolved organic aerosols (generated from volatile emissions from incomplete wood combustion), including secondary organic aerosols, contributed 47.1%. Adding the contributions of unresolved organic aerosols to those from primary wood smoke implies that wood burning is responsible for 84.6% of the ambient PM_2.5 in Temuco. This predominance of wood smoke is ultimately due to widespread poverty and a lack of efficient household heating methods. The government has been implementing emission abatement policies but achieving compliance with ambient air quality standards for PM_2.5 in southern Chile remains a challenge.