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Islam MR, Welker J, Salam A, Stone EA. Plastic Burning Impacts on Atmospheric Fine Particulate Matter at Urban and Rural Sites in the USA and Bangladesh. ACS Environ Au 2022; 2:409-417. [PMID: 36164352 PMCID: PMC9502013 DOI: 10.1021/acsenvironau.1c00054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
To better understand the impact of plastic burning on atmospheric fine particulate matter (PM2.5), we evaluated two methods for the quantification of 1,3,5-triphenylbenzene (TPB), a molecular tracer of plastic burning. Compared to traditional solvent-extraction gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) techniques, thermal-desorption (TD) GCMS provided higher throughput, lower limits of detection, more precise spike recoveries, a wider linear quantification range, and reduced solvent use. This method enabled quantification of TPB in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) samples collected at rural and urban sites in the USA and Bangladesh. These analyses demonstrated a measurable impact of plastic burning at 5 of the 6 study locations, with the largest absolute and relative TPB concentrations occurring in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where plastic burning is expected to be a significant source of PM2.5. Background-level contributions of plastic burning in the USA were estimated to be 0.004-0.03 μg m-3 of PM2.5 mass. Across the four sites in the USA, the lower estimate of plastic burning contributions to PM2.5 ranged 0.04-0.8%, while the median estimate ranged 0.3-3% (save for Atlanta, Georgia, in the wintertime at 2-7%). The results demonstrate a consistent presence of plastic burning emissions in ambient PM2.5 across urban and rural sites in the USA, with a relatively small impact in comparison to other anthropogenic combustion sources in most cases. Much higher TPB concentrations were observed in Dhaka, with estimated plastic burning impacts on PM2.5 ranging from a lower estimate of 0.3-1.8 μg m-3 (0.6-2% of PM2.5) and the median estimate ranging 2-35 μg m-3 (5-15% of PM2.5). The methodological advances and new measurements presented herein help to assess the air quality impacts of burning plastic more broadly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Md. Robiul Islam
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, United States
| | - Josie Welker
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, United States
| | - Abdus Salam
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
| | - Elizabeth A. Stone
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, United States,Department
of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, United States,
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Ma J, Ungeheuer F, Zheng F, Du W, Wang Y, Cai J, Zhou Y, Yan C, Liu Y, Kulmala M, Daellenbach KR, Vogel AL. Nontarget Screening Exhibits a Seasonal Cycle of PM 2.5 Organic Aerosol Composition in Beijing. Environ Sci Technol 2022; 56:7017-7028. [PMID: 35302359 PMCID: PMC9179655 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.1c06905] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2021] [Revised: 03/09/2022] [Accepted: 03/09/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
The molecular composition of atmospheric particulate matter (PM) in the urban environment is complex, and it remains a challenge to identify its sources and formation pathways. Here, we report the seasonal variation of the molecular composition of organic aerosols (OA), based on 172 PM2.5 filter samples collected in Beijing, China, from February 2018 to March 2019. We applied a hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) on a large nontarget-screening data set and found a strong seasonal difference in the OA chemical composition. Molecular fingerprints of the major compound clusters exhibit a unique molecular pattern in the Van Krevelen-space. We found that summer OA in Beijing features a higher degree of oxidation and a higher proportion of organosulfates (OSs) in comparison to OA during wintertime, which exhibits a high contribution from (nitro-)aromatic compounds. OSs appeared with a high intensity in summer-haze conditions, indicating the importance of anthropogenic enhancement of secondary OA in summer Beijing. Furthermore, we quantified the contribution of the four main compound clusters to total OA using surrogate standards. With this approach, we are able to explain a small fraction of the OA (∼11-14%) monitored by the Time-of-Flight Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ToF-ACSM). However, we observe a strong correlation between the sum of the quantified clusters and OA measured by the ToF-ACSM, indicating that the identified clusters represent the major variability of OA seasonal cycles. This study highlights the potential of using nontarget screening in combination with HCA for gaining a better understanding of the molecular composition and the origin of OA in the urban environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jialiang Ma
- Institute
for Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, Goethe-University Frankfurt, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Florian Ungeheuer
- Institute
for Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, Goethe-University Frankfurt, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Feixue Zheng
- Aerosol
and Haze Laboratory, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter
Science and Engineering, Beijing University
of Chemical Technology, 100029 Beijing, P. R. China
| | - Wei Du
- Aerosol
and Haze Laboratory, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter
Science and Engineering, Beijing University
of Chemical Technology, 100029 Beijing, P. R. China
- Institute
for Atmospheric and Earth System Research/Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Yonghong Wang
- Aerosol
and Haze Laboratory, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter
Science and Engineering, Beijing University
of Chemical Technology, 100029 Beijing, P. R. China
- Institute
for Atmospheric and Earth System Research/Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
- Research
Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese
Academy of Sciences, 100085 Beijing, P. R. China
| | - Jing Cai
- Aerosol
and Haze Laboratory, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter
Science and Engineering, Beijing University
of Chemical Technology, 100029 Beijing, P. R. China
- Institute
for Atmospheric and Earth System Research/Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Ying Zhou
- Aerosol
and Haze Laboratory, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter
Science and Engineering, Beijing University
of Chemical Technology, 100029 Beijing, P. R. China
| | - Chao Yan
- Aerosol
and Haze Laboratory, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter
Science and Engineering, Beijing University
of Chemical Technology, 100029 Beijing, P. R. China
- Institute
for Atmospheric and Earth System Research/Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Yongchun Liu
- Aerosol
and Haze Laboratory, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter
Science and Engineering, Beijing University
of Chemical Technology, 100029 Beijing, P. R. China
| | - Markku Kulmala
- Aerosol
and Haze Laboratory, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter
Science and Engineering, Beijing University
of Chemical Technology, 100029 Beijing, P. R. China
- Institute
for Atmospheric and Earth System Research/Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Kaspar R. Daellenbach
- Aerosol
and Haze Laboratory, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter
Science and Engineering, Beijing University
of Chemical Technology, 100029 Beijing, P. R. China
- Institute
for Atmospheric and Earth System Research/Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
- Laboratory
of Atmospheric Chemistry, Paul Scherrer
Institute, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland
| | - Alexander L. Vogel
- Institute
for Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, Goethe-University Frankfurt, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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Füri P, Groma V, Török S, Farkas Á, Dian C. Ultrafine urban particle measurements in Budapest and their airway deposition distribution calculation. Inhal Toxicol 2020; 32:494-502. [PMID: 33283557 DOI: 10.1080/08958378.2020.1850937] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to provide particle number and mass deposition rates of submicron particles in the human airways as inputs for toxicology and other areas of aerosol science. METHODS Scanning Mobility Particle Spectrometer was used to measure the number concentrations and size distributions of the ultrafine urban particles during summer and winter in Budapest. The Stochastic Lung Model (SLM) was applied to calculate number and mass deposition rates of the inhaled particles in different anatomical regions of the airways. RESULTS Our calculations revealed that for the selected days in summer and winter with PM10 values below the health limit 4.7 and 18.4 billion particles deposited in the bronchial region of the lungs. The deposition in the acinar region of the lung was even higher, 8.3 billion particles for the summer day, and 33.8 billion particles for winter day. CONCLUSIONS Our results clearly demonstrate that large daily numbers of urban UFPs are deposited in the respiratory tract, which may play a key role in the health effects of particulate matter (PM) inhalation. Present results, connecting the ambient exposure parameters with the local burden of the airway epithelium, can be useful inputs of in vitro cell culture experiments. By the combination of urban UFP monitoring and numerical modeling of particle deposition with toxicological studies, the health risks of urban aerosols could be better assessed. The use of UFP data in addition to PM10 and PM2.5 in the epidemiological studies would also be indicated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Péter Füri
- Centre for Energy Research, Budapest, Hungary
| | | | | | | | - Csenge Dian
- Centre for Energy Research, Budapest, Hungary
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Burkart J, Steiner G, Reischl G, Hitzenberger R. Long-term study of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activation of the atmospheric aerosol in Vienna. Atmos Environ (1994) 2011; 45:5751-5759. [PMID: 21977003 PMCID: PMC3174422 DOI: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2011.07.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2011] [Revised: 07/07/2011] [Accepted: 07/12/2011] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
During a total of 11 months, cloud condensation nuclei (CCN at super-saturation S 0.5%) and condensation nuclei (CN) concentrations were measured in the urban background aerosol of Vienna, Austria. For several months, number size distributions between 13.22 nm and 929 nm were also measured with a scanning mobility particle spectrometer (SMPS). Activation ratios (i.e. CCN/CN ratios) were calculated and apparent activation diameters obtained by integrating the SMPS size distributions. Variations in all CCN parameters (concentration, activation ratio, apparent activation diameter) are quite large on timescales of days to weeks. Passages of fronts influenced CCN parameters. Concentrations decreased with the passage of a front. No significant differences were found for fronts from different sectors (for Vienna mainly north to west and south to east). CCN concentrations at 0.5% S ranged from 160 cm(-3) to 3600 cm(-3) with a campaign average of 820 cm(-3). Activation ratios were quite low (0.02-0.47, average: 0.13) and comparable to activation ratios found in other polluted regions (e.g. Cubison et al., 2008). Apparent activation diameters were found to be much larger (campaign average: 169 nm, range: (69-370) nm) than activation diameters for single-salt particles (around 50 nm depending on the salt). Contrary to CN concentrations, which are influenced by source patterns, CCN concentrations did not exhibit distinct diurnal patterns. Activation ratios showed diurnal variations counter-current to the variations of CN concentrations.
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Affiliation(s)
- J. Burkart
- University of Vienna, Faculty of Physics, Aerosol Physics and Environmental Physics, Boltzmanng. 5, A-1090 Vienna, Austria
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