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Chemical Composition and Source Apportionment of Size Fractionated Particulate Matter in Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Citation:
Kim, Y., Todd Krantz, J. Mcgee, K. Kovalcik, R. Duvall, R. Willis, A. Kamal, M. Landis, G. Norris, AND Ian Gilmour. Chemical Composition and Source Apportionment of Size Fractionated Particulate Matter in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 218:1180-1190, (2016).
Impact/Purpose:
Cleveland is an industrial city that is impacted by a combination of local and regional particulate matter (PM) sources including coal- and oil-fired power plants, integrated steel plants, non- ferrous metals smelting, manufacturing, motor vehicles, and secondary aerosols. The U .S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for fine fraction PM (PM2.5) is persistently exceeded in Cleveland resulting in non-attainment status. Therefore, it is critical to understand the relative contribution of air emission sources to the Cleveland airshed in order to develop an effective state im plementation plan (SIP) that is required by U.S. EPA to achieve air pollution standards.
Description:
The Cleveland airshed comprises a complex mixture of industrial source emissions that contribute to periods of non-attainment for fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) and are associated with increased adverse health outcomes in the exposed population. Specific PM sources responsible for health effects however are not fully understood. Size-fractionated PM (coarse, fine, and ultrafine) samples were collected using a ChemVol sampler at an urban site (G.T. Craig (GTC)) and rural site (Chippewa Lake (CLM)) from July 2009 to June 2010, and then chemically analyzed. The resulting speciated PM data were apportioned by EPA positive matrix factorization to identify emission sources for each size fraction and location. For comparisons with the ChemVol results, PM samples were also collected with sequential dichotomous and passive samplers, and evaluated for source contributions to each sampling site. The ChemVol results showed that annual average concentrations of PM, elemental carbon, and inorganic elements in the coarse fraction at GTC were ~ 2, ~7, and ~3 times higher than those at CLM, respectively, while the smaller size fractions at both sites showed similar annual average concentrat ions. Seasonal variations of secondary aerosols (e.g., high N03- level in winter and high SO42- level in summer) were observed at both sites. Source apportionment results demonstrated that the PM samples at GTC and CLM were enriched with local industrial sources (e.g., steel plant and coal-fired power plant) but their contributions were influenced by meteorological conditions and the emission source's operation conditions. Taken together the year-long PM collection and data analysis provides valuable insights into the characteristics and sources of PM impacting the Cleveland airshed in both the urban center and the rural upwind background locations. These data will be used to classify the PM samples for toxicology studies to determine which PM sources, species, and size fractions are of greatest health concern.
