Source apportionment of particulate matter in Denmark

Atmospheric particulate matter (PM) has received considerable attention over the last decade as an important component of air pollution, particularly due to its health effects on the exposed population. Typically the mass of particles with diameters smaller that 10 μm (PM10) has been used in large cohort studies to estimate health effects such as increase in hospitalization rate, asthma attacks and premature deaths. Particles smaller than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) and ultra fine particles have been used in various epidemiological studies and correlations between exposure to fine and ultra fine particles and health effects have been found. Limits of acceptable concentrations of PM10, PM2.5 and some carcinogenic species have been made, and it is important to find the origin of the particulate matter to prevent exceeds of these limits. This can be done by measuring particle mass, organic/inorganic fractions of particles, the chemical components and other relevant factors, and then use receptor modeling for source apportionment of the particulate matter. We have done measurements at street level and urban background in Copenhagen, Denmark, to determine the origin of different sizes of particulate matter and the toxic organic compounds connected to these particles. We also did measurements in a small village with less traffic and more residential wood combustion for a comparison between traffic and wood combustion generated pollution. Our results show a significant amount of particulate matter coming from non local sources and are dominated by long-range transported inorganic salts. The amount of these is highly depended on the wind direction and thus on the origin of the wind plume. The origin of the carcinogenic organic compound benzo(a)pyrene was found to be local combustion sources. To prevent events of high particulate matter concentration in Copenhagen, Denmark, a reduction of emission from the local traffic will only lead to a minor effect, since the majority of the particulate matter is from long-range transport. A reduction in combustion generated particles would lead to a significant decrease in the smallest particle sizes and in the concentration of traffic generated toxics like benzo(a)pyrene.