Premium
Is vehicle exhaust a significant primary source of oxalic acid in ambient aerosols?
Author(s) -
Huang XiaoFeng,
Yu Jian Zhen
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2006gl028457
Subject(s) - oxalic acid , oxalate , aerosol , environmental chemistry , environmental science , atmosphere (unit) , aerodynamic diameter , carbon fibers , total organic carbon , chemistry , materials science , inorganic chemistry , meteorology , organic chemistry , physics , composite number , composite material
Oxalic acid is the single most abundant organic compound identified in ambient aerosols. In a previous study it was suggested that vehicular emissions were an important primary source of oxalic acid in an urban atmosphere. We here present size‐segregated measurements of oxalic acid in a road‐way tunnel and in an ambient urban environment in the Pearl River Delta Region, China, to demonstrate clearly that vehicular emissions are not a significant primary source for oxalic acid in urban aerosols. Evidence in support of this assertion includes: (1) no enhancement in oxalate levels in the tunnel aerosol was seen in comparison with the oxalate levels in the ambient environment, (2) oxalate in the tunnel samples bore little resemblance in its size distribution to that of elemental carbon and had no correlation with elemental carbon, and (3) the ratio of oxalate/elemental carbon in the tunnel samples was more than 15 times lower than that in the ambient samples.