Source apportionment of PM2.5 in the harbour-industrial area of Brindisi (Italy): Identification and estimation of the contribution of in-port ship emissions

Harbours are important for economic and social development of coastal areas but they also represent an anthropogenic source of emissions often located near urban centres and industrial areas. This increases the difficulties in distinguishing the harbour contribution with respect to other sources. The aim of this work is the characterisation of main sources of PM2.5 acting on the Brindisi harbour-industrial area, trying to pinpoint the contribution of inport ship emissions to primary and secondary PM2.5. Brindisi is an important port-city of the Adriatic Sea considered a hot-spot for anthropogenic environmental pressures at National level. Measurements were performed collecting PM2.5 samples and characterising the concentrations of 23 chemical species (water soluble organic and inorganic carbon; major ions: SO42-, NO3-, NH4+, Cl-, C2O42-, Na+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+; and elements: Ni, Cu, V, Mn, As, Pb, Cr, Sb, Fe, Al, Zn, and Ti). These species represent, on average, 51.4% of PM2.5 and were used for source apportionment via PMF. The contributions of eight sources were estimated: crustal (16.4 +/- 0.9% of PM2.5), aged marine (2.6 +/- 0.5%), crustal carbonates (7.7 +/- 0.3%), ammonium sulphate (273 +/- 0.8%), biomass burningfires (11.7 +/- 0.7%), traffic (16.4 1.7 %), industrial (0.4 +/- 0.3%) and a mixed source oil combustion-industrial including ship emissions in harbour (15.3 +/- 1.3%). The PMF did not separate the in-port ship emission contribution from industrial releases. The correlation of estimated contribution with meteorology showed directionality with an increase of oil combustion and sulphate contribution in the harbour direction with respect to the direction of the urban area and an increase of the V/Ni ratio. This allowed for the use of V as marker of primary ship contribution to PM2.5 (2.8% +/- 1.1%). The secondary contribution of oil combustion to non-sea-salt-sulphate, nssSO(4)(2-), was estimated to be 1.3 mu g/m(3) (about 40% of total nssSO(4)(2-) or 11% of PM2.5). (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.