Characterization of urban amine-containing particles in southwestern China: seasonal variation, source, and processing

Abstract. Amine-containing particles were characterized in an urban area of Chongqing during both summer and winter using a single-particle aerosol mass spectrometer (SPAMS). Among the collected particles, 12.7 % were amine-containing in winter and 8.3 % in summer. Amines were internally mixed with elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon (OC), sulfate, and nitrate. Diethylamine (DEA) was the most abundant among amine-containing particles. Wintertime amine-containing particles were mainly from the northwest direction where a forest park was located; in summer, they were from the northwest and southwest (traffic hub) directions. These origins suggest that vegetation and traffic were the primary sources of particulate amines. The average relative peak area of DEA depended strongly on humidity, indicating that the enhancement of DEA was possibly due to increasing aerosol water content and aerosol acidity. Using an adaptive resonance theory neural network (ART-2a) algorithm, four major types of amine-containing particles were clustered: amine–organic carbon (A-OC), A-OCEC, DEA-OC, and A-OCEC aged. The identified particle types implied that amines were taken up by particles produced from traffic and biomass burning. The knowledge gained in this study is useful to understand the atmospheric processing, origin, and sources of amine-containing particles in the urban area of Chongqing.