A quantitative assessment of source contributions to inhalable particulate matter pollution in metropolitan Boston

In this paper, source apportionment techniques are employed to identify and quantify the major particle pollution source classes affecting a monitoring site in metropolitan Boston, MA. A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of paniculate elemental data allows the estimation of mass contributions for five fine mass panicle source classes (soil, motor vehicle, coal related, oil and salt aerosols), and six coarse panicle source classes (soil, motor vehicle, refuse incineration, residual oil, salt and sulfate aerosols). Also derived are the elemental characteristics of those source aerosols and their contributions to the total recorded elemental concentrations (i.e. an elemental mass balance). These are estimated by applying a new approach to apportioning mass among various PCA source components: the calculation of Absolute Principal Component Scores, and the subsequent regression of daily mass and elemental concentrations on these scores. One advantage of the PCA source apportionment approach developed is that it allows the estimation of mass and source particle characteristics for an unconventional source category: transported (coal combustion related) aerosols. This particle class is estimated to represent a major portion of the aerosol mass, averaging roughly 40 per cent of the fine mass and 25 per cent of the inhalable particle mass at the Watertown, MA site. About 45 per cent of the fine particle sulfur is ascribed to this one component, with only 20 per cent assigned to pollution from local sources. The composition of the coal related aerosol at this site is found to be quite different from particles measured in the stacks of coal-fired power plants. Sulfates were estimated to comprise a much larger percentage of the ambient coal related aerosol than has been measured in stacks, while crustal element percentages were much reduced. This is thought to be due to primary panicle deposition and secondary aerosol accretion experienced during transport. Overall, the results indicate that the application of further emission controls to local point sources of particles would have less influence on fine aerosol and sulfate concentrations than would the control of more distant emissions causing aerosols transported into the Boston vicinity.