Fossil Fuel Combustion-Related Emissions Dominate Atmospheric Ammonia Sources during Severe Haze Episodes: Evidence from 15N-Stable Isotope in Size-Resolved Aerosol Ammonium

  我组方运霆研究员在 Environmental Science & Technology 上发表文章:Yuepeng PanShili TianDongwei LiuYunting FangXiaying Zhu et al. Fossil Fuel Combustion-Related Emissions Dominate Atmospheric Ammonia Sources during Severe Haze Episodes: Evidence from 15N-Stable Isotope in Size-Resolved Aerosol Ammonium[J]. Environmental Science & Technology, 2016, 50(15):8049-8056. 

  文章链接:http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.6b00634  

  The reduction of ammonia (NH3) emissions is urgently needed due to its role in aerosol nucleation and growth causing haze formation during its conversion into ammonium (NH4+). However, the relative contributions of individual NH3 sources are unclear, and debate remains over whether agricultural emissions dominate atmospheric NH3 in urban areas. Based on the chemical and isotopic measurements of size-resolved aerosols in urban Beijing, China, we find that the natural abundance of 15N (expressed using δ15N values) of NH4+ in fine particles varies with the development of haze episodes, ranging from -37.1‰ to -21.7‰ during clean/dusty days (relative humidity: ~ 40%), to -13.1‰ to +5.8‰ during hazy days (relative humidity: 70–90%). After accounting for the isotope exchange between NH3 gas and aerosol NH4+, the δ15N value of the initial NH3 during hazy days is found to be -14.5‰ to -1.6‰, which indicates fossil fuel-based emissions. These emissions contribute 90% of the total NH3 during hazy days in urban Beijing. This work demonstrates the analysis of δ15N values of aerosol NH4+ to be a promising new tool for partitioning atmospheric NH3 sources, providing policy makers with insights into NH3 emissions and secondary aerosols for regulation in urban environments. 


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