A preliminary study on pollution characteristics of surfactant substances in fine particles in the Beibu Gulf Region of China

The pollution characteristics of surfactant substances in fine particles (PM_2.5) in spring were studied in the Beibu Gulf Region of China, 68 samples of PM_2.5 were collected at Weizhou Island in Beihai City from March 12 to April 17, 2015. The Anionic Surfactant Substances (ASS) and Cationic Surfactant Substances (CSS) in the samples were analyzed using Byethyl Violet Spectrophotometry and Disulfide Blue Spectrophotometry, respectively. Combined with the data from backward trajectory simulation, the effects of air pollutants from remote transport on the pollution characteristics of surfactant substances in PM_2.5 in the Beibu Gulf Region were analyzed and discussed. The results showed that the daily mean concentrations of ASS and CSS in spring in the Beibu Gulf Region were 165.20 pmol/m³ and 8.05pmol/m³, and the variation ranges were 23.21–452.55 pmol/m³ and 0.65–31.31 pmol/m³, accounting for 1.82‰ ± 1.65‰ and 0.12‰ ± 0.11‰ of the mass concentration of PM_2.5, respectively. These concentrations were lower than those in comparable regions around the world. There was no clear correlation between the concentrations of ASS and CSS in PM_2.5 and the mass concentrations of PM_2.5. Tourism and air transport had a positive contribution on the concentrations of ASS. The concentration of surfactant substances in PM_2.5 was significantly impacted by wind speed and wind direction. Atmospheric temperature, air pressure and precipitation had little effect on the concentrations of surfactant substances. Surfactant substances in PM_2.5 significantly impacted visibility. Results also showed that the main sources of surfactant substances were from the southern China and Southeast Asia.