Vehicular pollution as the primary source of oxidative potential of PM2.5 in Bhubaneswar, a non-attainment city in eastern India†

Abstract

We assessed the oxidative potential (OP) of PM_2.5 (n = 230) using dithiothreitol (DTT) assay to identify the major emission sources in Bhubaneswar (20.20°N, 85.80°E), one of the non-attainment cities under the National Clean Air Program, situated on the eastern coast of India. Continuous day and night PM_2.5 samples were collected during periods influenced by marine airmass (MAM; April–May 2019) as well as continental airmass (CAM; October 2019–December 2019). Volume normalized DTT (DDTv) activities were approximately two times higher during CAM compared to MAM periods. In contrast, mass normalized DTT activity (DDTm) showed insignificant variations between CAM and MAM periods. This might be due to particulate organic matter, which accounted for more than one-fifth of the PM_2.5 mass loading and remained surprisingly invariant during the study periods. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) identified secondary aerosols (MAM: 26% and CAM: 33%) as dominant contributors to PM_2.5 mass in both periods. OP, is, however, dominated by vehicular emissions (21%) as identified through multiple linear regression. Conditional Bivariate Probability Function (CBPF) analysis indicated that local sources were the primary drivers for the catalytic activity of PM_2.5 in the study region. Additionally, stagnant meteorological conditions, combined with the chemical aging of species during regional transport of pollutants, likely enhanced redox activity of PM_2.5 during the CAM period. The study highlights that increasing traffic congestion is primarily responsible for adverse health outcomes in the region. Therefore, it is important to regulate mobility and vehicular movement to mitigate the hazardous impact of PM_2.5 in Bhubaneswar.