Air Quality Research Division, Science and Technology Branch, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Toronto, Ontario M3H 5T4, Canada.
Air Quality Research Division, Science and Technology Branch, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Ottawa, Ontario K1V 1C7, Canada.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Sep 20;788:147748. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147748. Epub 2021 May 20.
The oil sands industries in Alberta, Canada are potential sources of particulate-bound elements in the region. This study explored the ambient concentrations and size distributions, and conducted source apportionment of 48 particulate elements, based on samples collected in 2016-2017 at four air monitoring sites in the Athabasca oil sands region: Fort McKay (AMS1), Buffalo Viewpoint (AMS4), Wapasu Creek (AMS17), and Stoney Mountain (AMS18). Element concentrations in fine and coarse particulate matter (PM and PM respectively) at the four sites were generally lower than their typical concentrations at other urban and industrial sites in North America. Among all elements, S was the most abundant in PM with mean concentrations ranging from 189 ng/m (AMS18) to 284 ng/m (AMS1). Of the trace, toxic elements in PM, Zn was the most abundant with mean concentrations ranging from 3.43 ng/m (AMS18) to 5.37 ng/m (AMS4). Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) modeling of the element concentrations in PM was used for source apportionment for Zone1 (including AMS 1, 4, and 17, situated closer to industrial activities) and for Zone2 (including AMS18, a background site). The sources of elements for Zone1, included crustal dust, bitumen processing, haul road dust, and biomass burning that explained ~33%, ~43%, ~15%, and ~9% of the total resolved elemental mass, respectively. The sources of elements for Zone2, included Pb-rich source, biomass burning, fugitive oil sands, crustal dust, and bitumen processing explaining ~8%, ~7%, ~3%, ~22%, and ~60% of the total resolved elemental mass, respectively. Elemental mass concentrations of the bitumen processing source factor at Zone2 was two-thirds of that in Zone1. Overall, mass proportions of the bitumen processing source factor at all four sites were significant, suggesting that the oil sands industries played a key role in ambient element concentration levels in the region.
加拿大阿尔伯塔省的油砂产业是该地区颗粒态元素的潜在来源。本研究基于 2016 年至 2017 年在阿萨巴斯卡油砂地区四个空气监测站点（Fort McKay [AMS1]、Buffalo Viewpoint [AMS4]、Wapasu Creek [AMS17]和 Stoney Mountain [AMS18]）采集的样本，探讨了 48 种颗粒元素的环境浓度和粒径分布，并进行了来源解析。四个站点的细颗粒物（PM）和粗颗粒物（PM）中元素浓度通常低于北美其他城市和工业区的典型浓度。在所研究的所有元素中，S 是 PM 中最丰富的元素，浓度范围为 189ng/m（AMS18）至 284ng/m（AMS1）。在 PM 中痕量有毒元素中，Zn 的浓度最高，范围为 3.43ng/m（AMS18）至 5.37ng/m（AMS4）。采用正矩阵因子分解（PMF）模型对 PM 中元素浓度进行源解析，用于 Zone1（包括更靠近工业活动的 AMS 1、4 和 17）和 Zone2（包括背景站点 AMS18）的源解析。Zone1 元素的来源包括地壳尘、沥青加工、运输道路尘和生物质燃烧，分别解释了总解析元素质量的约 33%、43%、15%和 9%。Zone2 元素的来源包括富 Pb 源、生物质燃烧、浮油砂、地壳尘和沥青加工，分别解释了总解析元素质量的约 8%、7%、3%、22%和 60%。Zone2 中沥青加工源因子的元素质量浓度是 Zone1 的三分之二。总的来说，所有四个站点的沥青加工源因子的质量比例都很显著，表明油砂产业对该地区环境元素浓度水平起着关键作用。
