Source apportionment of ambient volatile organic compounds in major cities in Australia by positive matrix factorisation

View/ Open
Author(s)
Chan, Andrew Yiu-chung
Christensen, E.
Golding, G.
King, G.
Gore, W.
Cohen, D.
Hawas, O.
Stelcer, E.
Simpson, R.
Denison, L.
Wong, N.
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2008
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Source apportionment of the 6-daily, 24 h volatile organic compound (VOC) samples collected during 2003-2004 in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane was carried out using the Positive Matrix Factorisation software (PMF2). Fourteen C4-C10 VOCs were chosen for source apportionment. Biogenic emissions were not covered in this study because tracer VOCs such as isoprene were not measured. Five VOC source factors were identified, including the 'evaporative / fuel distribution' factor (contribute to 37% of the total mass of the 14 VOCs on average), the 'vehicle exhaust / petrochemical industry' factor (24%), the 'biomass burning' factor ...
View more >Source apportionment of the 6-daily, 24 h volatile organic compound (VOC) samples collected during 2003-2004 in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane was carried out using the Positive Matrix Factorisation software (PMF2). Fourteen C4-C10 VOCs were chosen for source apportionment. Biogenic emissions were not covered in this study because tracer VOCs such as isoprene were not measured. Five VOC source factors were identified, including the 'evaporative / fuel distribution' factor (contribute to 37% of the total mass of the 14 VOCs on average), the 'vehicle exhaust / petrochemical industry' factor (24%), the 'biomass burning' factor (13%), the 'architectural surface coatings' factor (5%) and the 'other sources' factor (14%). The relative contributions of the source factors to the ambient VOC concentration at the sampling sites were comparable to the relative emission loads of the local sources in Australian air emission inventories. The high contribution from evaporative emissions indicates that introduction of reduction measures for evaporative emissions could substantially reduce the VOC emissions in Australian cities. The total VOC mass and the contributions from vehicle related sources and biomass burning were higher in winter and autumn, while the contributions from surface coatings were higher in summer.
View less >
View more >Source apportionment of the 6-daily, 24 h volatile organic compound (VOC) samples collected during 2003-2004 in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane was carried out using the Positive Matrix Factorisation software (PMF2). Fourteen C4-C10 VOCs were chosen for source apportionment. Biogenic emissions were not covered in this study because tracer VOCs such as isoprene were not measured. Five VOC source factors were identified, including the 'evaporative / fuel distribution' factor (contribute to 37% of the total mass of the 14 VOCs on average), the 'vehicle exhaust / petrochemical industry' factor (24%), the 'biomass burning' factor (13%), the 'architectural surface coatings' factor (5%) and the 'other sources' factor (14%). The relative contributions of the source factors to the ambient VOC concentration at the sampling sites were comparable to the relative emission loads of the local sources in Australian air emission inventories. The high contribution from evaporative emissions indicates that introduction of reduction measures for evaporative emissions could substantially reduce the VOC emissions in Australian cities. The total VOC mass and the contributions from vehicle related sources and biomass burning were higher in winter and autumn, while the contributions from surface coatings were higher in summer.
View less >
Journal Title
Clean Air and Environmental Quality
Volume
42
Issue
2
Publisher URI
Copyright Statement
© 2008 CASANZ. This is the author-manuscript version of this paper. Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.
Subject
Chemical Sciences
Earth Sciences
Environmental Sciences