Review of Source Apportionment Techniques for Airborne Particulate Matter

摘要

A review of source apportionment studies for airborne particulate matter reveals that unique chemical tracers are only available for a few general source categories including wood combustion, motor vehicle exhaust, coal combustion, meat cooking, crustaceous seafood cooking, candle combustion, tobacco smoke, and leaf abrasion. Unique chemical profiles can be constructed for many more sources, but their interpretation requires the use of complex source apportionment models. Ten models that calculate the contribution that different source make to air borne particulate matter are reviewed: Tracer Analysis, Chemical Mass Balance, Principal Component Analysis, Factor Analysis, Factorization, Empirical Orthogonal Functions, Chemical Mass Balance/Factor Analysis, Target Transformation Factor Analysis, Emissions Inventory Analysis, and Source-oriented Chemical Transport Models. The mathematical basis, assumptions, and limitations for each source apportionment model are summarized. The source apportionment methods are shown to provide a continuous spectrum of capabilities with increasingly detailed information provided as the amount of input data expands.