[Sensitivity Analysis of Atmospheric Ozone and Source Apportionment of Volatile Organic Compounds in Yinchuan City]

Huan Jing Ke Xue. 2024 Aug 8;45(8):4419-4431. doi: 10.13227/j.hjkx.202308052.
[Article in Chinese]

Abstract

Based on the observation data of O3 concentration in Yinchuan in 2022, the monthly variation characteristics of O3 concentrations were analyzed. Further, based on the observation data of meteorological elements, conventional pollutants, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) concentrations at an urban site in Yinchuan from May to July, the difference in meteorological elements and precursor concentrations between the polluted days and the non-polluted days were compared. Then, the O3 sensitivity and the VOCs sources were discussed using the Framework for 0-D Atmospheric Modeling (F0AM) and positive matrix factorization (PMF) model, respectively. The results showed that: ① The O3 pollution occurred from May to July in 2022, and the concentrations of O3-8h-90per were 156 μg·m-3, 170 μg·m-3, and 174 μg·m-3, respectively, with exceeding standard rates of 9.7%, 26.7%, and 29.0%, respectively. ② Compared with those on the non-polluted days, the hourly mean values of temperature, total solar radiation, and concentrations of various precursors on the O3-polluted days increased, including the volume concentrations of propane, isobutane, ethane, n-butane, and dichloromethane, which increased significantly by 33.1%, 29.1%, 25.0%, 22.7%, and 21.3%, respectively. The results showed that the combined increase in pollutant emissions and adverse meteorological conditions contributed to the formation of O3. ③ From May to July 2022, the top five VOCs species in terms of ozone formation potential (OFP) value on whole, non-polluted, and polluted days were the same. They were acetaldehyde, m/p-xylene, ethylene, isoprene, and toluene, mainly from solvent use sources, natural sources, and chemical industry emissions. ④ The local O3 production was mostly controlled by VOCs, and the relative incremental reactivity (RIR) results revealed that O3 production showed strong positive sensitivity to alkene and aromatic hydrocarbon but showed negative sensitivity to NOx on both polluted and non-polluted days. The relative contributions of active species such as acetone, ethylene, and isobutane to O3 production were high, and the implementation of an emission reduction scheme with the ratio of VOCs to NOx emission reduction much greater than 1 could effectively reduce the local O3 concentration. ⑤ The main sources of atmospheric VOCs in Yinchuan were motor vehicle emission sources (32.3%), process sources (20.7%), combustion sources (19.2%), solvent use sources (12.7%), gasoline volatile sources (9.1%), and natural sources (6%), and the contribution rate of motor vehicle emission sources on polluted days increased by 4.6% compared with that on non-polluted days, indicating that the motor vehicle emission source was an important object of summer VOCs control in Yinchuan.

Keywords: VOCs source apportionment; framework for 0-D atmospheric modeling(F0AM); ozone sensitivity analysis; ozone (O3); positive matrix factorization (PMF) model.

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