Fine particulate matter pollution characteristics and source apportionment of Changchun atmosphere

In order to study the pollution characteristics and main sources of fine particulate matter in the atmosphere of the city of Changchun, PM_2.5 samples were collected during the four seasons in 2014, and representative months for each season are January, April, July, and October. Sample collection was carried out on 10 auto-monitoring stations in Changchun, and PM_2.5 mass concentration and its chemical components (including inorganic elements, organic carbon, elemental carbon, and water-soluble ions) were measured. The results show that the annual average mass concentration of PM_2.5 in Changchun in 2014 was about 66.77 μg/m³. Organic matter was the highest component in PM_2.5, followed by secondary inorganic ions (SNA), mineral dust (MIN), elemental carbon (EC), and trace elements (TE). Positive matrix factorization (PMF) results gave seven factors, namely, industrial, biomass and coal burning, industrial and soil dust, motor vehicle, soil and secondary ion, light industrial, and hybrid automotive and industrial sources in PM_2.5, with contributing values of 18.9%, 24.2%, 5.7%, 23.0%, 11.5%, 13.0%, and 3.6%, respectively.