Title: Further analysis and PMF application to the chemical composition data of IPCAJ's Kashima SPM study

Authors: Prapat Pongkiatkul, Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh, Arpa Wangkiat, Shin'ichi Okamoto

Addresses: Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand. ' Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand. ' Rangsit University, 52/347 Phaholyothin Road, Pathumthani 12000, Thailand. ' Tokyo University of Information Sciences, 1200-2 Yato-cho, Chiba 265-8501, Japan

Abstract: The Industrial Pollution Control Association of Japan (IPCAJ) has conducted an air quality study. A brief summary has already appeared in previous papers. This set of data was not sufficiently analysed. This study attempts to examine the performance of the Positive Matrix Factorisation (PMF), a recently introduced technique in this field, on this multiple-site Kashima data set. The source apportionment study using the PMF model conducted for the Kashima data set identified six factors for each fine and coarse fraction. This result also seems to be appropriate, because spatial distribution and seasonal variation of the contributions for each emission source category could be explained reasonably. The PMF can analyse a data set that may be extracted from different populations, and it seems to be a powerful tool available for these kinds of complicated data sets.

Keywords: aerosol; particulate matter; sea salt; secondary particles; PMF; positive matrix factorisation; pollution control; Japan; air quality; air pollution.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2010.031754

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2010 Vol.40 No.4, pp.337 - 350

Published online: 23 Feb 2010 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article