Chemical characterization of polar organic markers in aerosols in a local area around Bologna, Italy

The composition and seasonal variations of water-soluble organic compounds, including 18 dicarboxylic acids and 7 sugars, were determined in the atmospheric aerosol during intensive summer and winter campaigns. This study is a part of the MONITER project developed by ARPAER (Environment Agency of Emilia Romagna region) with the aim to evaluate the potential impact of the emissions from a municipal waste incineration plant on air quality of the surrounding area. In both the seasons the most abundant compound is levoglucosan, as the major by-product from biomass burning. The abundances of dicarboxylic acids exhibit a seasonal pattern with higher winter concentrations: the distribution profiles and the diagnostic ratios of the markers suggest that the particulate organics are mainly emitted by primary sources (power plants, vehicular 2 circulation, biomass burning) in winter and produced by photochemical reactions from both biogenic and anthropogenic precursors in summer. The spatial variations of the concentration of the target compounds show a homogenous composition, reflecting the regional nature of the PM composition, weakly impacted by emissions of local sources, including the incinerator