Light absorption and source apportionment of water soluble humic-like substances (HULIS) in PM2.5 at Nanjing, China

Humic-like substances (HULIS), as important components of brown carbon (BrC), play an important role in climate change. In this study, one-year PM2.5 samples from 2017 to 2018 were collected at Nanjing, China and the water soluble HULIS and other chemical species were analyzed to investigate the seasonal variations, optical properties and possible sources. The HULIS concentrations exhibited highest in winter and lowest in summer. The annual averaged HULIS concentration was 2.61 +/- 1.79 mu g m(-3), accounting for 45 +/- 13% of water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC). The HULIS light absorption coefficient at 365 nm (Abs(365)(, HULIS)) averagely accounted for 71 +/- 19% of that of WSOC, suggesting that HULIS are the main light-absorbing components in WSOC. The annual averaged angstrom ngstrom absorption exponent and mass absorption efficiency of HULIS at 365 nm were 5.22 +/- 0.77 and 1.71 +/- 0.70 m(2) g(-1). Good correlations between HULIS with levoglucosan and K+ suggested biomass burning (BB) influence on HULIS. High concentrations of HULIS and secondary species (e.g., NO3-, SO42-, NH4+, C2SO42-) were found in present of high relative humidity, indicating strong aqueous phase secondary HULIS formation. Secondary HULIS produced from anthropogenic and biogenic precursors were quantified based on the positive matrix factorization (PMF) model and the results showed that both fossil (55%) and biogenic (45%) emission sources made great contributions to HULIS. Fossil fuel combustion significantly contributed to HULIS formation throughout the whole year, which were enriched with more secondary HULIS (30%) than primary HULIS (25%). Strongest BB contribution (39%) was found in winter and biogenic SOA contribution (32%) was found in summer. A multiple linear regression (MLR) method was further applied to obtain specific source contributions to AbS(365), Hums and the results showed that strong light-absorbing chromophores were produced from anthropogenic precursors. Our results highlight the anthropogenic SOA and fossil fuels combustion contributions to HULIS in addition to the biggest contributor, BB, in urban area in China.

Automated summary

This study investigated the seasonal variations, optical properties, and possible sources of Humic-like substances (HULIS) in PM2.5 samples collected in Nanjing over a year. The results showed that HULIS concentrations were highest in winter and lowest in summer, with significant contributions from biomass burning and aqueous phase secondary HULIS formation. The study highlighted the contributions of fossil fuel combustion and anthropogenic precursors to HULIS, on top of biomass burning, in an urban area in China.