Comparison of abundances, compositions and sources of elements, inorganic ions and organic compounds in atmospheric aerosols from Xi'an and New Delhi, two megacities in China and India

• ~ 100 organic tracers were compared for Chinese & Indian aerosols in a single study.
• The major sources are biomass & waste burning in India and coal burning in China.
• Organic aerosols are endocrine disrupting in India and carcinogenic in China.

Wintertime TSP samples collected in the two megacities of Xi'an, China and New Delhi, India were analyzed for elements, inorganic ions, carbonaceous species and organic compounds to investigate the differences in chemical compositions and sources of organic aerosols. The current work is the first time comparing the composition of urban organic aerosols from China and India and discussing their sources in a single study. Our results showed that the concentrations of Ca, Fe, Ti, inorganic ions, EC, PAHs and hopanes in Xi'an are 1.3–2.9 times of those in New Delhi, which is ascribed to the higher emissions of dust and coal burning in Xi'an. In contrast, Cl−, levoglucosan, n-alkanes, fatty alcohols, fatty acids, phthalates and bisphenol A are 0.4–3.0 times higher in New Delhi than in Xi'an, which is attributed to strong emissions from biomass burning and solid waste incineration. PAHs are carcinogenic while phthalates and bisphenol A are endocrine disrupting. Thus, the significant difference in chemical compositions of the above TSP samples may suggest that residents in Xi'an and New Delhi are exposed to environmental hazards that pose different health risks.Lower mass ratios of octadecenoic acid/octadecanoic acid (C18:1/C18:0) and benzo(a)pyrene/benzo(e)pyrene (BaP/BeP) demonstrate that aerosol particles in New Delhi are photochemically more aged. Mass closure reconstructions of the wintertime TSP indicate that crustal material is the most abundant component of ambient particles in Xi'an and New Delhi, accounting for 52% and 48% of the particle masses, respectively, followed by organic matter (24% and 23% in Xi'an and New Delhi, respectively) and secondary inorganic ions (sulfate, nitrate plus ammonium, 16% and 12% in Xi'an and New Delhi, respectively).