Factorization methods applied to characterize the sources of volatile organic compounds in Montreal, Quebec

• Authors: Eugeniusz Porada , Termeh Kousha

Abstracts

EN

Objectives The study objective was to assemble emission characteristics of the sources of the ambient volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and to elaborate methods of organizing them into the sources’ chemical profiles. Material and Methods The UNMIX – sensor modeling method from the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) – was used to process the VOC concentration data acquired over the years 2000–2009 for 175 VOC species in 4 air quality monitoring stations in Montreal, Quebec. Results The method enabled to assess VOC emissions from the typically distributed sources existing in urban environment and VOC occurrences characterizing the local, or point-like, sources. The distributed sources were inextricably associated with hydrocarbons from exhaust, heavier hydrocarbons from contaminated urban soil, fugitive evaporations of gasoline and liquefied petroleum gases (LPG), leakage from the industrial and commercial use of solvents, and the inert, ozone depleting gases permeating urban atmosphere. The sources’ profiles were charted involving 60–120 VOC species per source. Spatial distribution of the sources was examined. Conclusions The UNMIX application and the source profiling methods, by building robust chemical profiles of VOC sources, provided information that can be used to assign the measured VOC emissions to physical sources. This, in turn, provides means of assessing the impact of environmental policies, on one hand, and of industrial activities on the other hand on VOC air pollution.

Keywords

EN

volatile organic compound; UNMIX; receptor modeling; source profile; pulp industry; principal components

• Publisher: Instytut Medycyny Pracy im. prof. dra Jerzego Nofera w Łodzi
• Journal: International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 29
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 15-39

Dates

published

2016

Contributors

author

Eugeniusz Porada

• University of Québec at Outaouais, Gatineau, Canada (Department of Computer Science)

author

Termeh Kousha

• Ottawa University, Ottawa, Canada (Department of Mathematics and Statistics)

Identifiers

DOI

10.13075/ijomeh.1896.00509

Biblioteka Nauki

2177087