Chemical composition and oxidative potential of atmospheric particles heavily impacted by residential wood burning in the alpine region of northern Italy
2021
Pietrogrande, Maria Chiara | Bertoli, Ilaria | Clauser, Giuseppe | Dalpiaz, Cristina | Dell'Anna, Rossana | Lazzeri, Paolo | Lenzi, Walter | Russo, Mara
The main objective of this study was to estimate the contribution of emissions from wood burning (WB) combustion to particulate matter (PM₁₀) oxidative potential (OP) in relation to its chemical composition. A sampling campaign was carried out at an Alpine rural site during winter 2016–2017, when wood is largely used as fuel for domestic heating and therefore WB is a prevalent PM emission source.PM₁₀ samples were analyzed for their chemical constituents, including metals and trace elements, water soluble total carbon (WSTC), sugars, and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), with specific concern to anhydrosugars, K⁺ and Rb, as markers of WB. The OP was measured by the dithiothreitol (DTT) and ascorbic acid (AA) acellular assays and the volume normalized responses were investigated, OPᴰᵀᵀV and OPᴬᴬV, respectively. On average, the two assays measured similar values, even though the mean OPᴰᵀᵀV response was significantly higher than OPᴬᴬV, i.e., 0.33 ± 0.07 nmol min⁻¹ m⁻³ and 0.28 ± 0.08 nmol min⁻¹ m⁻³, respectively.To identify the species mostly contributing to the PM₁₀ OP, a series of statistical analyses was performed, namely Pearson correlation analysis, multiple linear regression, hierarchical cluster and partial least squares regression analyses. Results from this study indicated that the PM₁₀ redox activity was strongly correlated with the characteristic components of WB emissions, namely WSTCₙₑₜ, the net water-soluble carbonaceous component, total concentrations of anhydrosugars (Σₐₙₕydᵣ) and of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (ΣPAHₛ).
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