TY - JOUR
T1 - Major source categories of PM2.5 oxidative potential in wintertime Beijing and surroundings based on online dithiothreitol-based field measurements
AU - Cheung, Rico K.Y.
AU - Qi, Lu
AU - Manousakas, Manousos I.
AU - Puthussery, Joseph V.
AU - Zheng, Yan
AU - Koenig, Theodore K.
AU - Cui, Tianqu
AU - Wang, Tiantian
AU - Ge, Yanli
AU - Wei, Gaoyuan
AU - Kuang, Yu
AU - Sheng, Mengshuang
AU - Cheng, Zhen
AU - Li, Ailin
AU - Li, Zhiyu
AU - Ran, Weikang
AU - Xu, Weiqi
AU - Zhang, Renjian
AU - Han, Yuemei
AU - Wang, Qiyuan
AU - Wang, Zifa
AU - Sun, Yele
AU - Cao, Junji
AU - Slowik, Jay G.
AU - Dällenbach, Kaspar R.
AU - Verma, Vishal
AU - Gysel-Beer, Martin
AU - Qiu, Xinghua
AU - Chen, Qi
AU - Shang, Jing
AU - El-Haddad, Imad
AU - Prévôt, André S.H.
AU - Modini, Robin L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Authors
PY - 2024/6/10
Y1 - 2024/6/10
N2 - Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) causes millions of premature deaths each year worldwide. Oxidative potential (OP) has been proposed as a better metric for aerosol health effects than PM2.5 mass concentration alone. In this study, we report for the first time online measurements of PM2.5 OP in wintertime Beijing and surroundings based on a dithiothreitol (DTT) assay. These measurements were combined with co-located PM chemical composition measurements to identify the main source categories of aerosol OP. In addition, we highlight the influence of two distinct pollution events on aerosol OP (spring festival celebrations including fireworks and a severe regional dust storm). Source apportionment coupled with multilinear regression revealed that primary PM and oxygenated organic aerosol (OOA) were both important sources of OP, accounting for 41 ± 12 % and 39 ± 10 % of the OPvDTT (OP normalized by the sampled air volume), respectively. The small remainder was attributed to fireworks and dust, mainly resulting from the two distinct pollution events. During the 3.5-day spring festival period, OPvDTT spiked to 4.9 nmol min−1 m−3 with slightly more contribution from OOA (42 ± 11 %) and less from primary PM (31 ± 15 %). During the dust storm, hourly-averaged PM2.5 peaked at a very high value of 548 μg m−3 due to the dominant presence of dust-laden particles (88 % of total PM2.5). In contrast, only mildly elevated OPvDTT values (up to 1.5 nmol min−1 m−3) were observed during this dust event. This observation indicates that variations in OPvDTT cannot be fully explained using PM2.5 alone; one must also consider the chemical composition of PM2.5 when studying aerosol health effects. Our study highlights the need for continued pollution control strategies to reduce primary PM emissions, and more in-depth investigations into the source origins of OOA, to minimize the health risks associated with PM exposure in Beijing.
AB - Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) causes millions of premature deaths each year worldwide. Oxidative potential (OP) has been proposed as a better metric for aerosol health effects than PM2.5 mass concentration alone. In this study, we report for the first time online measurements of PM2.5 OP in wintertime Beijing and surroundings based on a dithiothreitol (DTT) assay. These measurements were combined with co-located PM chemical composition measurements to identify the main source categories of aerosol OP. In addition, we highlight the influence of two distinct pollution events on aerosol OP (spring festival celebrations including fireworks and a severe regional dust storm). Source apportionment coupled with multilinear regression revealed that primary PM and oxygenated organic aerosol (OOA) were both important sources of OP, accounting for 41 ± 12 % and 39 ± 10 % of the OPvDTT (OP normalized by the sampled air volume), respectively. The small remainder was attributed to fireworks and dust, mainly resulting from the two distinct pollution events. During the 3.5-day spring festival period, OPvDTT spiked to 4.9 nmol min−1 m−3 with slightly more contribution from OOA (42 ± 11 %) and less from primary PM (31 ± 15 %). During the dust storm, hourly-averaged PM2.5 peaked at a very high value of 548 μg m−3 due to the dominant presence of dust-laden particles (88 % of total PM2.5). In contrast, only mildly elevated OPvDTT values (up to 1.5 nmol min−1 m−3) were observed during this dust event. This observation indicates that variations in OPvDTT cannot be fully explained using PM2.5 alone; one must also consider the chemical composition of PM2.5 when studying aerosol health effects. Our study highlights the need for continued pollution control strategies to reduce primary PM emissions, and more in-depth investigations into the source origins of OOA, to minimize the health risks associated with PM exposure in Beijing.
KW - Aerosol health effects
KW - Oxidative potential
KW - PM air pollution
KW - Source apportionment
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85190496257&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172345
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172345
M3 - Article
C2 - 38621537
AN - SCOPUS:85190496257
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 928
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
M1 - 172345
ER -