Speciation and sources of atmospheric aerosols in a highly industrialised emerging mega-city in Central China

Abstract

Monitoring air quality in large urban agglomerations is the key to the prevention of air pollution-related problems in emerging mega-cities. The city of Wuhan is a highly industrialised city with >9 million inhabitants in Central China. Simultaneous PM10 sampling was performed during 1 year at one urban and one industrial site. Mean PM10 daily levels (156 μg m⁻³ at the urban site and 197 μg m⁻³ at the industrial hotspot) exceed the US-EPA or EU annual limit values by 3–4 times. A detailed study of daily speciation showed that the mean chemical composition of PM10 presents minimal differences between peak and low PM episodes. This implies that PM10 aerosols in the study area result from local emissions, and air quality management and abatement strategies in Wuhan should thus focus on local anthropogenic sources. The levels of some elements of environmental concern are relatively high (409–615 ngPb m⁻³, 66–70 ngAs m⁻³, 116–227 ngMn m⁻³, 10–12 ngCd m⁻³) due to industrial, but also urban emissions. Principal component analysis identified a mineral source (probably cement and steel manufacture) and smelting as the main contributors to PM10 levels at the industrial site (34%), followed by a coal fired power plant (20%) and the anthropogenic regional background (16%). At the urban site the major PM10 source is a mixed coal combustion source (31%), followed by the anthropogenic regional background (28%) and traffic (16%).