Date of Award
5-9-2024
Publication Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.Sc.
Department
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Keywords
Annual trend;Chemical Mass Balance Model;PAMS concentration;Seasonal Pattern;Source Apportionment;Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
Supervisor
Xiaohong Xu
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
A Chemical Mass Balance model-based VOC source apportionment study was conducted using 24-hour ambient VOC concentrations measured at Windsor West Station from 2014 to 2021. Over the 8-year study period, the average Photochemical Assessment Monitoring Stations (PAMS) concentration in Windsor was 31.2 µg/m3. “Commercial Natural Gas” was the primary source contributor (29.7%) of ambient VOCs, followed by “Gasoline Exhaust” (19.4%), “Industrial Refinery” (15.5%), “Gasoline Vapour” (13.4%), “Liquefied Petroleum Gas” (7.5%), “Coke Oven” (4.9%), “Diesel Exhaust” (4.4%), “Liquid Gasoline” (2.4%), “Architectural Coating” (2.2%), and a minor contribution from “Biogenic Emission” (0.8%). From 2014 to 2021, the annual PAMS concentrations declined by 5.9%. From 2014 to 2021, the annual contributions of “Commercial Natural Gas”, “Gasoline Exhaust”, “Industrial Refinery”, “Gasoline Vapour”, “Liquefied Petroleum Gas”, “Coke Oven”, “Diesel Exhaust”, “Liquid Gasoline”, and “Biogenic Emission” did not exhibit statistically significant trends (p > 0.05). The annual contributions of “Architectural Coating” showed a statistically significant trend (p < 0.05) from 2014 to 2021. The PAMS concentrations exhibited a seasonal pattern of higher concentrations in fall (34.2 µg/m3) and winter (32.4 µg/m3), and lower concentrations in summer (29.1 µg/m3) and spring (28.9 µg/m3). Similarly, the source contributions of “Industrial Refinery”, “Liquefied Petroleum Gas”, and “Coke Oven” show a winter high seasonal pattern, while the contributions of “Vehicle Emission Sources”, “Commercial Natural Gas”, “Architectural Coating”, and “Biogenic Emission” show high contributions in summer.
Recommended Citation
Borsha, Nishat Tabassum, "Source Apportionment of Volatile Organic Compounds in Windsor Using Chemical Mass Balance Model" (2024). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 9461.
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/9461