Sources of ambient non-methane hydrocarbon compounds and their impacts on O3 formation during autumn, Beijing

The field observation of 54 non-methane hydrocarbon compounds (NMHCs) was conducted from September 1 to October 20 in 2020 during autumn in Haidian District, Beijing. The mean concentration of total NMHCs was 29.81 ± 11.39 ppbv during this period, and alkanes were the major components. There were typical festival effects of NMHCs with lower concentration during the National Day. Alkenes and aromatics were the dominant groups in ozone formation potential (OFP) and OH radical loss rate (LOH). The positive matrix factorization (PMF) running results revealed that vehicular exhaust became the biggest source in urban areas, followed by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) usage, solvent usage, and fuel evaporation. The box model coupled with master chemical mechanism (MCM) was applied to study the impacts of different NMHCs sources on ozone (O3) formation in an O3 episode. The simulation results indicated that reducing NMHCs concentration could effectively suppress O3 formation. Moreover, reducing traffic-related emissions of NMHCs was an effective way to control O3 pollution at an urban site in Beijing.