Source apportionment for sediment PAHs from the Daliao River (China) using an extended fit measurement mode of chemical mass balance model

To minimize the selection uncertainties of source profiles and obtain the higher model performance, an extended fit measurement mode for chemical mass balance model (EFMM-CMB) was proposed and applied to estimate source contributions for sediment PAHs from the Daliao River around which is the important industrial bases with oil, chemical and steel factories in the northeast part of China. Based on least squares fitting method, EFMM-CMB initially calculated the fit measurement index to every one of the possible combinations that can be made from the source profiles. Any successful applications of the fitting method were ranked according to performance measures, and then determined by maximizing an overall fitting index for a unique solution. Apportionment results from two case scenarios showed that the values of performance measures for EFMM-CMB were better to that for CMB8.2 results. With species selection of high molecular weight PAHs, power plant (45.75%), biomass burning (29.34%) and traffic tunnel (10.59%) were identified as the major sources of sediment PAHs from the Daliao River region.

► An extended fit mode for CMB model (EFMM-CMB) was studied for source apportionment.
► Source contributions were estimated for two case scenarios using EFMM-CMB and CMB8.2.
► The sources of PAHs in sediments from the Daliao River (China) have been apportioned.