Evaluating the effectiveness of low-sulphur marine fuel regulations at improving urban ambient PM air quality: Source apportionment of PM at Canadian Atlantic and Pacific coast cities with implementation of the North American Emissions Control Area.

Ambient fine size fraction particulate matter (PM) sources were resolved by positive matrix factorization at two Canadian cities on the Atlantic and Pacific coast over the 2010-2016 period, corresponding to implementation of the North American Emissions Control Area (NA ECA) low-sulphur marine fuel regulations. Source types contributing to local PM concentrations were: ECA regulation-related (residual oil, anthropogenic sulphate), urban transportation and residential (gasoline, diesel, secondary nitrate, biomass burning, road dust/soil), industry (refinery, Pb-enriched), and largely natural (biogenic sulphate, sea salt). Anthropogenic sources accounted for approximately 80 % of PM mass over 2010-2016. Anthropogenic and biogenic sources of PM-sulphate were separated and apportioned. Anthropogenic PM-sulphate was approximately 2-3 times higher than biogenic PM-sulphate prior to implementation of the NA ECA low-S marine fuel regulations, decreasing to 1-2 times higher after regulation implementation. Non-marine anthropogenic sources (gasoline, road dust, local industry factors) were shown to together contribute 38 % - 45 % of urban PM. At both coastal cities, the residual oil and anthropogenic sulphate factors clearly reflected the effects of the low-S fuel regulations at reducing primary and secondary sulphur-related PM emissions. Comparing a pre-regulation and post-regulation period, residual oil combustion PM decreased by 0.24-0.25 μg/m (94%-95 % decrease) in both cities and anthropogenic sulphate PM decreased by 0.78 μg/m in Halifax (47 % decrease) and 0.71 μg/m in Burnaby (58 % decrease). Regulation-related PM across these factors decreased by approximately 1 μg/m after regulation implementation, providing a quantified lower estimate of the beneficial influence of the regulations on urban ambient PM concentrations. Further reductions in coastal city ambient PM may best consider air quality strategies that include multiple sources, including marine shipping and non-marine anthropogenic source types given this analysis found that marine vessel emissions remain an important source of urban ambient PM.