Receptor modelling studies of airborne particulate matter in the United Kingdom and India

• Main Author: Pant, Pallavi
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: University of Birmingham 2014
• Subjects: GE Environmental Sciences

Research described in this thesis was conducted in the United Kingdom and India, and although the overall subject was source apportionment of traffic emissions, specific objectives as well as research design were different in each case. In the UK, composite PM\(_{2.5}\) traffic profiles were derived from ambient data including tunnel and twin-site measurements, and sensitivity of a CMB model to various traffic profiles was tested. The two composite profiles were found to be similar, although lower uncertainties were observed for the tunnel profile. The UK-based traffic profile was found to quantify the traffic contribution consistently, and independent estimates of traffic contribution were found to correlate well with the CMB output. PM10 road dust was chemically characterized in Birmingham and New Delhi, and detailed chemical source profiles were prepared for both cities. Source contributions from dust and non-exhaust emissions were estimated for both cities. In New Delhi, ambient PM\(_{2.5}\) and size-segregated PM data were collected at a high-traffic location. Ambient PM\(_{2.5}\) concentrations were found to be very high, especially in the winter. Source inferences were derived based on mass closure and traffic emissions were found to contribute between 15 and 25% across seasons.