Chemical Mass Balance Model with Fractionation for Apportioning PM2.5: A Test Case for Los Angeles Traffic Sources

Abstract

Chemical mass balance receptor models (CMBs) use measured pollutant concentrations, along with source information, to apportion the contributions of primary sources to the measured concentrations. CMBs can be used to evaluate the accuracy of the emission inventories that underlie State Implementation Plan (SIP) modeling, by providing an allocation of emissions to individual source categories. CMBs, however, traditionally have not accounted for the chemical reaction and differential deposition or fractionation that occur between the source and receptor. This means that they have historically had severe limitations in apportioning secondary particulate matter (PM), which is an especially important component of fine PM (PM_2.5). Stafford and Liljestrand developed a method to account for fractionation in CMBs using depletion factors based on a solution of the steady-state advection-dispersion equation, including gravitational settling, dry deposition, and first-order chemical reaction. In the research presented here, the method of Stafford and Liljestrand was tested using gaseous and PM ambient concentration data from the Los Angeles, CA, air shed, along with traffic source profiles specific to Los Angeles and the CMB7 receptor model of the U.S. Environment Protection Agency. Including fractionation increased nitrate apportioned from 5% and 6% to 83% and 86% for Claremont, CA, and Long Beach, CA, respectively. This is significant, because CMBs have historically had difficulty apportioning nitrate. Including fractionation increased the ammonium apportioned by a factor of 7. The method could be used in future case studies to apportion secondary organic carbon as well.