Determination of Source Contributions to Ambient PM[sub2.5] in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Using a Receptor Model.

Ambient particulates of PM[sub2.5] were sampled at three sites in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, during February and March 1999. In addition, resuspended PM[sub2.5] collected from traffic tunnels, paved roads, fly ash of a municipal solid waste (MSW) incinerator, and seawater was obtained. All the samples were analyzed for twenty constituents, including watersoluble ions, organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), and metallic elements. In conjunction with local source profiles and the source profiles in the model library SPECIATE EPA, the receptor model based on chemical mass balance (CMB) was then applied to determine the source contributions to ambient PM[sub2.5]. The mean concentration of ambient PM[sub2.5] was 42.69-53.68 µg/m³ for the sampling period. The abundant species in ambient PM[sub2.5] in the mass fraction for three sites were OC (12.7-14.2%), SO[sub4, sup2-] (12.8-15.1%), NO[sub3, sup-] (8.1-10.3%), NH[sub4, sup+] (6.7-7.5%), and EC (5.3-8.5%). Results of CMB modeling show that major pollution sources for ambient PM[sub2.5] are traffic exhaust (18-54%), secondary aerosols (30-41% from SO[sub4, sup2-] and NO[sub3, sup-]), and outdoor burning of agriculture wastes (13-17%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]