Measurements of volatile organic compounds in rural area of Yangtze River Delta region: Measurement comparison and source characterization

Concentrations of non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) in ambient air were measured by three different methods in a city of Rudong in May and June 2010. Intercomparison of VOCs measurements was made among in-situ measurements and canister analyses with a gas chromatography/flame ionization detection/mass spectrometry (GC/FID/MS) and proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometry (PTR-MS). For 18 VOCs measured by GC/FID/MS, canister analyses and in-situ measurements were in reasonably good agreement (R² > 0.90). However, alkenes and aromatics in canister samples were found to be lower than in-situ measurements likely due to adsorption of low volatile compounds onto the wall surface inside canisters. For comparison of GC/MS with PTR-MS, the correlations for isoprene, benzene, C₈ aromatics, and C₉ aromatics were highly significant (R² ≥ 0.93) with each other. However, there were quantitative differences between GC/MS and PTR-MS. For example, isoprene measured by PTR-MS indicates existence of interferences from C₅ alcohols, C₅ aldehydes, and furan. During the latter part of the field campaign, elevated concentrations of VOCs and CO were observed when intensive burning of crop residues took place near the sampling site. The concentrations of ethane, propane, ethane, isoprene, acetone, acetaldehyde, and aromatics varied in the range between 0 and 30 ppbv. The observed VOCs concentrations are compared to model results by a regional chemistry-transport model for Asia. The modeled concentrations underestimated the observed concentrations by a factor of 10 for NMHCs, 100 for aromatics, 10 for oxygenated VOCs, implying that current emissions inventories miss a number of sources for these VOCs.