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Updated: Jul 25, 2025
Production and Measurement of Organic Particulate Matter in a Flow Tube Reactor
Published on: December 15, 2018
Changes in source apportioned VOCs during high O3 periods using initial VOC-concentration-dispersion normalized PMF
Yutong Wu1, Baoshuang Liu1, He Meng2
1State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Urban Ambient Air Particulate Matter Pollution Prevention and Control & Tianjin Key Laboratory of Urban Transport Emission Research, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China; CMA-NKU Cooperative Laboratory for Atmospheric Environment-Health Research, Tianjin 300350, China.
A new method, initial concentration-dispersion normalized PMF (ICDN-PMF), accurately quantifies volatile organic compounds (VOCs) sources. Controlling solvent use and motor vehicles is key to reducing VOCs during ozone pollution periods.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Chemistry
- Atmospheric Science
- Air Pollution Monitoring
Background:
- Ambient volatile organic compounds (VOCs) concentrations are influenced by complex interactions of emissions, atmospheric dispersion, and chemical transformations.
- Accurate source apportionment of VOCs is crucial for effective air quality management, especially during periods of high ozone pollution.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a novel method, Initial Concentration-Dispersion Normalized Positive Matrix Factorization (ICDN-PMF), for improved VOC source apportionment.
- To assess the impact of photochemical losses and atmospheric dispersion on VOC source contributions during ozone pollution (OP) and non-ozone pollution (NOP) periods.
Main Methods:
- Development of the ICDN-PMF model to correct for photochemical losses and normalize for atmospheric dispersion effects.
- Application of the ICDN-PMF method to hourly speciated VOC data collected in Qingdao from March to May 2020.
- Comparative analysis of VOC source contributions between OP and NOP periods.
Main Results:
- The ICDN-PMF method effectively corrected for underestimated solvent use and biogenic emissions during OP periods, revealing increases of 4.4 and 3.8 times, respectively, compared to NOP.
- Solvent use contributions increased 4.6 times during OP due to air dispersion. Major contributors to VOCs during OP were biogenic emissions (23.1%), solvent use (23.0%), motor-vehicle emissions (17.1%), and natural gas/diesel evaporation (15.8%).
- Biogenic and solvent use contributions significantly increased during OP (187% and 135%, respectively), while liquefied petroleum gas contributions decreased.
Conclusions:
- The ICDN-PMF model provides a more accurate assessment of VOC source contributions, particularly by accounting for chemical and physical atmospheric processes.
- Targeted control strategies focusing on solvent use and motor vehicles are recommended for mitigating VOC pollution during ozone pollution events.
