PM10 mass concentration, chemical composition, and sources in the typical coal-dominated industrial city of Pingdingshan, China

The atmospheric pollution created by coal-dominated industrial cities in China cannot be neglected. This study focuses on the atmospheric PM10 in the typical industrial city of Pingdingshan City in North China. A total of 44 PM10 samples were collected from three different sites (power plant, mining area, and roadside) in Pingdingshan City during the winter of 2013, and were analyzed gravimetrically and chemically. The Pingdingshan PM10 samples were composed of mineral matter (average of 118.0 ± 58.6 μg/m3, 20.6% of the total PM10 concentration), secondary crystalline particles (338.7 ± 122.0 μg/m3, 59.2%), organic matter (77.3 ± 48.5 μg/m3, 13.5%), and elemental carbon (38.0 ± 28.3 μg/m3, 6.6%). Different sources had different proportions of these components in PM10. The power plant pollutant source was characterized by secondary crystalline particles (377.1 μg/m3), elemental carbon (51.5 μg/m3), and organic matter (90.6 μg/m3) due to coal combustion. The mining area pollutant source was characterized by mineral matter (124.0 μg/m3) due to weathering of waste dumps. The roadside pollutant source was characterized by mineral matter (130.0 μg/m3) and organic matter (81.0 μg/m3) due to road dust and vehicle exhaust, respectively. A positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis was performed for PM10 source apportionment to identify major anthropogenic sources of PM10 in Pingdingshan. Six factors—crustal matter, coal combustion, vehicle exhaust and abrasion, local burning, weathering of waste dumps, and industrial metal smelting—were identified and their contributions to Pingdingshan PM10 were 19.0%, 31.6%, 7.4%, 6.3%, 9.8%, and 25.9%, respectively. Compared to other major cities in China, the source of PM10 in Pingdingshan was characterized by coal combustion, weathering of waste dumps, and industrial metal smelting.