Sources and Specified Health Risks of 12 PM2.5-Bound Metals in a Typical Air-Polluted City in Northern China during the 13th Five-Year Plan

Abstract

The continuous monitoring of PM2.5 (including 12 metal elements) was conducted in Jinan, a city with poor air quality in China, during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016–2020). Positive matrix factorization (PMF) was used to identify emission sources of PM2.5-bound metals, and the health risks of the metals and their emission sources were assessed. During the study period, the concentration of most metals showed a decreasing trend (except Al and Be), and a significant seasonal difference was found: winter > fall > spring > summer. The PMF analysis showed that there were four main sources of PM2.5-bound metals, and their contributions to the total metals (TMs) were dust emissions (54.3%), coal combustion and industrial emissions (22.3%), vehicle emissions (19.3%), and domestic emissions (4.1%). The results of the health risk assessment indicated that the carcinogenic risk of metals (Cr and As) exceeded the acceptable level (1 × 10−6), which was of concern. Under the influence of emission reduction measures, the contribution of emission sources to health risks changes dynamically, and the emission sources that contribute more to health risks were coal combustion and industrial emissions, as well as vehicle emissions. In addition, our findings suggest that a series of emission reduction measures effectively reduced the health risk from emission sources of PM2.5-bound metals.