E. Andriani

An integrated approach to identify the origin of PM10 exceedances

PurposeThis study was aimed to the development of an integrated approach for the characterization of particulate matter (PM) pollution events in the South of Italy.MethodsPM10 and PM2.5 daily samples were collected from June to November 2008 at an urban background site located in Bari (Puglia Region, South of Italy). Meteorological data, particle size distributions and atmospheric dispersion conditions were also monitored in order to provide information concerning the different features of PM sources.ResultsThe collected data allowed suggesting four indicators to characterize different PM10 exceedances. PM2.5/PM10 ratio, natural radioactivity, aerosol maps and back-trajectory analysis and particle distributions were considered in order to evaluate the contribution of local anthropogenic sources and to determine the different origins of intrusive air mass coming from long-range transport, such as African dust outbreaks and aerosol particles from Central and Eastern Europe. The obtained results were confirmed by applying principal component analysis to the number particle concentration dataset and by the chemical characterization of the samples (PM10 and PM2.5).ConclusionsThe integrated approach for PM study suggested in this paper can be useful to support the air quality managers for the development of cost-effective control strategies and the application of more suitable risk management approaches.

Application of CMB Model to PM10 Data Collected in a Site of South Italy: Results and Comparison with APCS Model

Chemical mass balance modeling (CMB) was applied to determine the PM10 sources and their contributions. PM10 samples were collected in Lecce (South Italy) during two monitoring campaigns performed in the months of July 2005 and February 2006. Nine source profiles and average mass concentration of the following chemical parameters: EC, OC, Cl - , NO 3 - , SO 4 2- , Na + , NH 4 + , K + , Mg 2+ , Ca 2+ , Al, Si, Ti, V, Mn, Fe, Cu, Pb, and Zn were used to run the Chemical Mass Balance (CMB 8 ) model. The results obtained by application of CMB 8.2 to one sample data (L21) are shown. The contributions to PM10 show that dominant contributor was traffic with 37% followed by petroleum industry with 19% and field burning with 16%. Minor source contributions were marine aerosol (1%), ammonium sulfate production (4%), ammonium nitrate production (11%), oilfired power plant (0.1%), gypsum handling (10%) and crustal (2%).