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Title: Source apportionment of air pollution in China: Extending the usefulness of receptor modeling by combining multivariate and chemical mass balance models

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6426692

The research explores the possibility of using a two step method of identifying and quantifying air pollution emissions in an urban environment. The procedures uses a mathematical model called Target Transformation Factor Analysis (TTFA) to estimate source profiles using ambient trace element air concentration data. A source profile is analogous to a fingerprint since it is unique to each source of air pollution. The profiles estimated by TTFA are then employed in a Chemical Mass Balance (CMB) source apportionment analysis for the air shed. Other known sources are estimated using source signatures from the literature. Applying the TTFA and CMB models in this fashion is called receptor modeling. Generically, a receptor model is the combination of measured air pollution concentration data with a numerical technique which apportions the measured air pollution among distinct source types. The results show that TTFA can be used to provide quantitative estimates of air pollution source profiles for an urban center in China. The number of profiles for unique source types was limited for the data set since emissions from certain types of sources co-varied during each sampling day. Consequently, the CMB analyses that applied the TTFA source profiles needed to be supplemented with standard U.S. EPA source profiles.

Research Organization:
Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC (United States). Atmospheric Research and Exposure Assessment Lab.
OSTI ID:
6426692
Report Number(s):
PB-93-185726/XAB; EPA-600/A-93/088
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English