Source apportionment of particulate matter, gaseous pollutants, and volatile organic compounds in a future smart city of India

In the present research study, identification and analysis of sources of conventional as well as emerging air pollutants is presented through source apportionment and trajectory analysis. In this regard, an extensive monitoring campaign was done in Udaipur city of India for particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), gaseous pollutants (NO, NO2, NOx, O-3, CO, NH3, SO2), and selected volatile organic compounds i.e. Benzene, Ethyl Benzene, Toluene, and Xylene. The collected data was analyzed using positive matrix factorization (PMF), a well-known multivariate receptor model to predict the major sources of air pollution. The PMF resolved four dominant pollution sources/factors: petroleum/solvent extraction activities, vehicular emissions, fertilizer industry, and mining activities. More specifically, the petroleum industries contributed to emission of VOCs; vehicular emissions contributed mainly to CO, NO, NOx, and NO2; fertilizer related activities dominated in emission of NH3 and SO2; and mining activities were observed to be associated with emissions of PM10, PM2.5, and O-3. Moreover, trajectories analysis (backward and forward) were performed using HYSPLIT model, which revealed that the wind direction and wind speed played significant role in varying concentrations of monitored pollutants. Overall, the present study provided a new insight for the source apportionment of monitored pollutants.