Characteristics and Source Apportionment of Atmospheric Volatile Organic Compounds in Zhengzhou During O3 Campaign Period

An online gas chromatograph （GC5000） was used to monitor the volatile organic compounds （VOCs） in the atmospheric environment of Zhengzhou City during the ozone campaign period from May to September of 2022. The relationship between O3 and its precursors as well as meteorology was analyzed and the pollution characteristics of VOCs during the O3 exceeding and non-exceeding the standard days were compared and explored. Different VOC activity evaluation methods of OFP and L·OH were utilized to compare and analyze the key active components and species and the ratio analysis（RA）and positive matrix factorization （PMF） analysis models were used to study the apportionment contribution of VOCs. The results showed that the O3pollution in June and September in Zhengzhou was mainly due to the adverse meteorological conditions of high temperature and low humidity，strong radiation，and low wind speed，superimposed by the prominent concentrations of local VOCs and NO2，resulting in frequently high and excessive O3 occurrences. The VOCs concentration in Zhengzhou during the campaign period was an average of（68.3 ± 18.4）μg·m-3，whereas it was 75.7 μg·m-3 during O3 exceeding standard days and 13.4 μg·m-3 during O3 non-exceeding days，respectively. Among the VOC species，the OVOCs was 31.6%，accounting for the highest mass fraction，followed by halogenated hydrocarbon，alkane，and aromatic hydrocarbon，and the major species were ethane，n-butane，dichloromethane，propane，isopentane，toluene，chloromethane，1，2-dichloroethane，and acetylene. VOC diurnal variation indicated that the emission of VOC pollution sources in the morning，evening peak，and at night should be paid more attention. The contribution of VOCs to OFP during the campaign period was （130.5 ± 46.4） μg·m-3，and the L·OHwas （6.5 ± 2.9） s-1，among which the top 15 species with high activity were primarily acetaldehyde，isoprene，ethylene，m/p-xylene，toluene，hexal，isopentane，propanal，propylene，trans-2-butene，etc. In particular，the contributions of acetaldehyde，isoprene，ethylene，and hexal species were prominent during the O3 exceeding days. Ratio analysis showed that the B/T ratio in Zhengzhou from May to September ranged from 0.05 to 5.3，with an average value of 1.1 ± 0.6，and the regional VOCs was mainly controlled by the aging air mass with possible long-distance transports. The analysis of the PMF model showed that the major pollution sources to VOC concentration in Zhengzhou were motor vehicle exhaust emission sources and industrial solvent and secondary conversion sources，contributing 25.6% and 25.8%，respectively. The contribution rates of solvent coating sources，oil and gas volatile sources，plant emission sources，industrial solvents，and secondary conversion sources during O3 exceeding days were 5.4%，4.7%，3.3%，and 0.7% higher than those during O3 non-exceeding days，respectively. The research showed that the management of VOCs and NOx pollution sources should be strengthened to reduce their contribution to the O3 generation when O3 exceeds the standard. © 2024 Science Press. All rights reserved.