Particulate Amines in the Background Atmosphere of the Yangtze River Delta, China: Concentration, Size Distribution, and Sources

Amines are important for new particle formation and subsequent growth in the atmosphere. Consequently, processes involved receiving more attention recent years. Here, we conduct a field observation order to investigate atmospheric particulate amines at background site Yangtze River Delta (YRD) during summer of 2018. Four PM2.5, i.e., methylamine (MA), dimethylamine (DMA), diethylamine (DEA), trimethylamine (TMA), were collected, twice daily analyzed. During campaign, our measurements found concentrations MA, DMA, DEA, TMA 15.0 ± 15.0, 6.3 6.9, 20.4 30.1, 4.0 5.9 ng m−3, respectively, four correlated well with each other. The concentration appear be independent whether they collected day or night. Both MA DMA exhibited bimodal size distribution that had peaks 0.67 1.1 µm, suggesting preferably distribute on submicron particles. Boundary layer height (BLH), relative humidity, pH aerosols have negative relationship amines, while aerosol liquid water content (ALWC) was positive amines. PMF (positive matrix factorization) source apportionment results showed main Chongming Island anthropogenic origin such as industrial biomass emission, followed by marine sources including sea salt biogenic sources. Given YRD region is still suffering from complex pollution knowledge limited, studies urgent need better understanding characteristics