One-year measurements of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) markers in the Paris region (France): Concentrations, gas/particle partitioning and SOA source apportionment

G M Lanzafame; D Srivastava; O Favez; B A M Bandowe; P Shahpoury; G Lammel; N Bonnaire; L Y Alleman; F Couvidat; B Bessagnet; A Albinet

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143921

One-year measurements of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) markers in the Paris region (France): Concentrations, gas/particle partitioning and SOA source apportionment

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Feb 25:757:143921. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143921. Epub 2020 Nov 23.

Authors

G M Lanzafame¹, D Srivastava², O Favez², B A M Bandowe³, P Shahpoury⁴, G Lammel⁵, N Bonnaire⁶, L Y Alleman⁷, F Couvidat², B Bessagnet², A Albinet⁸

Affiliations

¹ Ineris, Parc Technologique Alata, Verneuil-en-Halatte, France; Sorbonne Universités, UPMC, PARIS, France.
² Ineris, Parc Technologique Alata, Verneuil-en-Halatte, France.
³ Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Multiphase Chemistry Department, Mainz, Germany.
⁴ Environment and Climate Change Canada, Air Quality Processes Research Section, Toronto, Canada.
⁵ Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Multiphase Chemistry Department, Mainz, Germany; Masaryk University, RECETOX, Brno, Czech Republic.
⁶ LSCE - UMR8212, CNRS-CEA-UVSQ, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
⁷ IMT Lille Douai, SAGE, Université de Lille, 59000 Lille, France.
⁸ Ineris, Parc Technologique Alata, Verneuil-en-Halatte, France. Electronic address: alexandre.albinet@ineris.fr.

PMID: 33261871
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143921

Abstract

Twenty-five biogenic and anthropogenic secondary organic aerosol (SOA) markers have been measured over a one-year period in both gaseous and PM₁₀ phases in the Paris region (France). Seasonal and chemical patterns were similar to those previously observed in Europe, but significantly different from the ones observed in America and Asia due to dissimilarities in source precursor emissions. Nitroaromatic compounds showed higher concentrations in winter due to larger emissions of their precursors originating from biomass combustion used for residential heating purposes. Among the biogenic markers, only isoprene SOA marker concentrations increased in summer while pinene SOA markers did not display any clear seasonal trend. The measured SOA markers, usually considered as semi-volatiles, were mainly associated to the particulate phase, except for the nitrophenols and nitroguaiacols, and their gas/particle partitioning (GPP) showed a low temperature and OM concentrations dependency. An evaluation of their GPP with thermodynamic model predictions suggested that apart from equilibrium partitioning between organic phase and air, the GPP of the markers is affected by processes suppressing volatility from a mixed organic and inorganic phase, such as enhanced dissolution in aerosol aqueous phase and non-equilibrium conditions. SOA marker concentrations were used to apportion secondary organic carbon (SOC) sources applying both, an improved version of the SOA-tracer method and positive matrix factorization (PMF) Total SOC estimations agreed very well between both models, except in summer and during a highly processed Springtime PM pollution event in which systematic underestimation by the SOA tracer method was evidenced. As a first approach, the SOA-tracer method could provide a reliable estimation of the average SOC concentrations, but it is limited due to the lack of markers for aged SOA together with missing SOA/SOC conversion fractions for several sources.

Keywords: Aerosol; Gas/particle partitioning; PMF; SOA; Source apportionment; Tracers.