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Source apportionment of particulate matter in a large city of southeastern Po Valley (Bologna, Italy)

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Abstract

This study reports the results of an experimental research project carried out in Bologna, a midsize town in central Po valley, with the aim at characterizing local aerosol chemistry and tracking the main source emissions of airborne particulate matter. Chemical speciation based upon ions, trace elements, and carbonaceous matter is discussed on the basis of seasonal variation and enrichment factors. For the first time, source apportionment was achieved at this location using two widely used receptor models (principal component analysis/multi-linear regression analysis (PCA/MLRA) and positive matrix factorization (PMF)). Four main aerosol sources were identified by PCA/MLRA and interpreted as: resuspended particulate and a pseudo-marine factor (winter street management), both related to the coarse fraction, plus mixed combustions and secondary aerosol largely associated to traffic and long-lived species typical of the fine fraction. The PMF model resolved six main aerosol sources, interpreted as: mineral dust, road dust, traffic, secondary aerosol, biomass burning and again a pseudo-marine factor. Source apportionment results from both models are in good agreement providing a 30 and a 33 % by weight respectively for PCA-MLRA and PMF for the coarse fraction and 70 % (PCA-MLRA) and 67 % (PMF) for the fine fraction. The episodic influence of Saharan dust transport on PM10 exceedances in Bologna was identified and discussed in term of meteorological framework, composition, and quantitative contribution.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are very grateful to the anonymous referees of this paper for the great help in the constructive discussion and critical review so helpful in improving the manuscript. The authors wish to thank Fondazione CARISBO for the financial support enabling us to acquire the Ion Chromatograph used in this investigation. We acknowledge NOAA for providing the HYSPLIT trajectories used in this study; Wetterzentrale for providing the synoptic maps used for the study of the Saharan Dust episode during summer 2006; PLANIGLOBE BETA for providing the map of Italy with the position of the city of Bologna where PM was sampled for this study; The Barcelona Supercomputing Center for the images from the BSC-DREAM8b (Dust REgional Atmospheric Model) model.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Chimica “G. Ciamician”, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Via Selmi 2, 40126, Bologna, Italy

    L. Tositti, E. Brattich, D. Baldacci & S. Parmeggiani

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali–Sezione di Geologia, Sede di Mineralogia, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Piazza di Porta San Donato, 1, 40126, Bologna, Italy

    E. Brattich

  3. DAIS - Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali, Informatica e Statistica, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Dorsoduro 2137, 30123, Venice, Italy

    M. Masiol

  4. LNL-INFN, Viale dell’Università 2, 35020, Legnaro, Italy

    D. Ceccato

  5. Dipartimento di Fisica “G. Galilei”, Università di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, 35100, Padova, Italy

    D. Ceccato

  6. ENEA, Via Martiri di Monte Sole 4, 40129, Bologna (BO), Italy

    M. Stracquadanio

  7. Dipartimento di Chimica Industriale “T. Montanari”, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento 4, 40136, Bologna, Italy

    S. Zappoli

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  1. L. Tositti
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  2. E. Brattich
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  3. M. Masiol
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  4. D. Baldacci
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  5. D. Ceccato
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  6. S. Parmeggiani
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Correspondence to E. Brattich.

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Responsible editor: Gerhard Lammel

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Fig. 1

a,b,c Time series of the IC determined NH4 + moles and necessary NH4 + moles to complete neutralization of sulfuric and nitric acid during the periods: a autumn 2005; b winter 2006; c summer 2006 (JPEG 114 kb)

High resolution image (TIFF 619 kb)

Fig. 2

Average values of enrichment factors of the analyzed elements during autumn 2005, calculated considering Al as reference crustal element (JPEG 36 kb)

High resolution image (TIFF 97 kb)

Fig. 3

Cluster analysis for the variables observed during the autumn 2005 campaign, calculated with Ward’s agglomerative hierarchical method and squared Euclidean distances. Similarity values are normalized to (D link/D max × 100) (JPEG 40 kb)

High resolution image (TIFF 5810 kb)

Fig. 4

Time series of the PM10 source contribution resulting from the PCA/MLRA model (JPEG 212 kb)

High resolution image (TIFF 1101 kb)

Table 1

Details about the sampling campaigns and the analyses carried on the sampled filters (DOC 37 kb)

Table 2

Comparison between the average elemental concentrations (in nanogram per cubic meter) observed in this study and in Firenze (Lucarelli et al. 2000), Milano (Marcazzan et al. 2003), and Venezia (Rampazzo et al. 2008) (DOC 66 kb)

Table 3

Diagnostic parameters on the performance obtained by PMF model: (a) intercept constant, identifying the fraction of the variable not explained by the model; (b) slope of the regression line, (c) standard error SE, estimate of the variability between experimental and retrieved from the model concentrations; (d) r 2, correlation between experimental and retrieved from the model concentrations (DOC 43 kb)

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Tositti, L., Brattich, E., Masiol, M. et al. Source apportionment of particulate matter in a large city of southeastern Po Valley (Bologna, Italy). Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 872–890 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-1911-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-1911-7

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