Pollution characteristics of organic, elemental carbon and water soluble organic carbon in PM2.5 a Tropical City Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India
Keywords:
Urban air quality, fine particulate matter, carbonaceous species, spatial trend, seasonal variationAbstract
Airborne particulate matter has now become an issue in the global environment. In this study, the atmospheric PM2.5, organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC) and water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) were measured in the urban city of Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India. The annual average concentration of PM2.5 was observed in 76.1 μg/m3, Similarly, the seasonal average of PM2.5 were 49.4 μg/m3 in summer, 73.3μg/m3 in Pre-monsoon, 86.1 μg/m3 in winter and 87.9 μg/m-3 during monsoon respectively. The present study found that the annual average concentrations of PM2.5 in Tiruchirappalli was significantly higher than the limit of 40 μg/m3 prescribed in the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (Indian-NAAQS) and 10 μg/m3 of that of the World Health Organization (WHO). While, the annual concentrations of OC, EC and WSOC were 8.9 μg/m3, 4.1 μg/m3 and 3.1 μg/m3 respectively. On seasonal average, the OC and EC concentrations ranked in the order of monsoon> winter>pre-monsoon > summer, which could be attributed to the combined effects of changes in local emissions and seasonal meteorological conditions. The secondary organic carbon (SOC) estimated by EC-tracer method was the highest in pre-monsoon (7.94 μg/m3) followed by monsoon (6.60 μg/m3), winter (6.04 μg/m3) and summer (4.57 μg/m3). Overall, results revealed that the mass concentration of PM2.5 bound carbonaceous fractions, and their contributions were varies by seasons. This study provides baseline information that can be exploited for policy formulation and mitigation strategies to control air pollution in south Indian urban cities.
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