Development of particulate matter speciation profiles for major sources in six cities in India Rashmi S. Patil a, ⁎, Rakesh Kumar b , Ratish Menon a , Munna Kumar Shah a , Virendra Sethi a a Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400076, India b National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Zonal Laboratory, Worli, Mumbai 400018, India article info abstract Article history: Received 7 September 2012 Received in revised form 12 January 2013 Accepted 21 April 2013 A nationwide study was carried out to develop air pollution source profiles specific to India. Chemical speciation profiles are reported for 27 major non-vehicular sources of particulate matter (combustion and non-combustion) in six cities in India viz. Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Kanpur, Mumbai and Pune. PM 10 and PM 2.5 samples were collected from these sources using three different modes of sampling viz. dilution, resuspension and source dominated sampling, depending on the nature of the source. Filter samples were analyzed for mass by gravimetric analysis, elements by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES), water soluble ions by ion chromatography and elemental (EC) and organic carbon (OC) by thermal/optical reflectance. Reported profiles include 39 elements, 12 ions, EC and OC. Developed profiles are compared with similar profiles that have been reported previously. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Source profiles Particulate matter Chemical speciation Chemical mass balance Source apportionment 1. Introduction Particulate matter (PM) emitted from air polluting sources is chemically unique and the fractional abundance of chemical species or source profiles, serves as an input for receptor models used in source apportionment studies (Friedlander, 1973). Several studies carried out in various parts of the world provide an extensive collection of PM source profiles (Chow and Watson, 1994; Watson et al., 2001; Vega et al., 2001; Watson and Chow, 2001; USEPA, 2002; Chow et al., 2004; Yatkin and Bayram, 2008). These profiles differ with sources, process operating conditions, geology, and geographic season- ality. Location specific source profiles are therefore needed for source apportionment studies. Air pollution source profile data is limited in India though some attempts have been reported during the course of the present study (Gadkari and Pervez, 2008; Balakrishna and Pervez, 2009). Limited availability of the country specific source profiles so far has prevented effective use of receptor models in the source apportionment studies in India (Pant and Harrison, 2012). The present study was part of a national effort towards developing a database of air pollution source profiles specific to India. The source profiles reported in this paper were developed as a part of a six city source apportionment study coordinated by Central Pollution Control Board, Delhi (CPCB, 2010). Sources were selected based on their respective prominence for the specific city, based on the emission inventories that were first prepared for the six city study (CPCB, 2010). This paper reports profiles for 27 sources of PM in six Indian cities viz. Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Kanpur, Mumbai and Pune. A list of these sources with the total number of profiles developed for each is provided in Table 1. A detailed description of these profiles is provided in Table S1 (supporting information). Speciation was carried out for 39 elements, 12 water soluble ions, elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC). The profiles have been briefly discussed and compared with similar profiles that have been reported previously. Some sources, such as leather waste burning, brick kilns, kerosene generators, power plants with low sulphur heavy stock fuel, and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) stoves, are unique to Indian conditions and are reported in this work. In addition to reporting source profiles, the variability in city specific sources is discussed for the respective profiles. Atmospheric Research 132–133 (2013) 1–11 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 22 2576 7858; fax: +91 22 2576 4650. E-mail address: rspatil@iitb.ac.in (R.S. Patil). 0169-8095/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2013.04.012 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Atmospheric Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/atmos