Characteristics of organic and elemental carbon in PM2.5 samples in Shanghai, China

Shanghai is the largest industrial and commercial city in China, and its air quality has been deteriorating for several decades. However, there are scarce researches on the level and seasonal variation of fine particle (PM2.5) as well as the carbonaceous fractions when compared with other cities in China and around the world. In the present paper, abundance and seasonal characteristics of PM2.5, organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) were studied at urban and suburban sites in Shanghai during four season-representative months in 2005–2006 year. PM2.5 samples were collected with high-vol samplers and analyzed for OC and EC using thermal-optical transmittance (TOT) protocol. Results showed that the annual average PM2.5 concentrations were 90.3–95.5 μg/m3 at both sites, while OC and EC were 14.7–17.4 μg/m3 and 2.8–3.0 μg/m3, respectively, with the OC/EC ratios of 5.0–5.6. The carbonaceous levels ranked by the order of Beijing > Guangzhou > Shanghai > Hong Kong. The carbonaceous aerosol accounted for ∼ 30% of the PM2.5 mass. On seasonal average, the highest OC and EC levels occurred during fall, and they were higher than the values in summer by a factor of 2. Strong correlations (r = 0.79–0.93) between OC and EC were found in the four seasons. Average level of secondary organic carbon (SOC) was 5.7–7.2 μg/m3, accounting for ∼ 30% of the total OC. Strong seasonal variation was observed for SOC with the highest value during fall, which was about two times the annual average.