Aerosol source (biomass, traffic and coal emission) apportionment in Lithuania using stable carbon and radiocarbon analysis^*

* Paper presented at the XIVth Workshop of the European Society for Isotope Research (ESIR) – ESIR 2017, Băile Govora, Romania, June 25–29, 2017.

ABSTRACT

In the present study, a combination of the stable carbon isotope ratio (¹³C/¹²C) with radiocarbon data (¹⁴C) allowed us to perform the aerosol source apportionment. Filter samples of PM₁ were collected during the warm and cold periods in rural and urban sites in Lithuania. The ¹⁴C/¹²C ratio of total carbon (TC) was measured using the single stage accelerator mass spectrometer quantifying of fossil and non-fossil derived aerosol emissions. The δ¹³C value was measured using an elemental analyser interfaced with an isotope ratio mass spectrometer. We have found that the highest fraction of contemporary carbon (f_c = 0.82) was measured during a warm period in a rural location. A higher fraction of fossil fuel-derived carbon was observed for air masses transported from highly industrialized Western European regions during both seasons. Isotope mass balance calculations revealed that the traffic emissions composed 15 and 25 % in rural and urban sites, respectively, and did not change during either season. Input from coal-derived aerosol particles was estimated to be 15 % at an urban site during the cold period. The combination of the stable carbon isotope ratio with the radiocarbon data allowed us to distinguish coal, liquid fossil fuel combustion, and non-fossil derived aerosol particle emissions.

KEYWORDS:

• Aerosol sources
• carbon-13
• carbon-14
• isotope ecology
• Lithuania
• pollution

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Andrius Garbaras http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3105-8059

Notes

* Paper presented at the XIVth Workshop of the European Society for Isotope Research (ESIR) – ESIR 2017, Băile Govora, Romania, June 25–29, 2017.