Using the ¹³C/¹²C carbon isotope ratio to characterise the emission sources of airborne particulate matter: a review of literature

Application of Natural Carbon Isotopes for Emission Source Apportionment of Carbonaceous Particulate Matter in Urban Atmosphere: A Case Study from Krakow, Southern Poland

“…It means that assuming the maximum estimated uncertainty of the radiocarbon signature leads to maximum uncertainty of the calculated budget component less than 10%. In the case of 13 C isotope composition, the isotopic signature of the biogenic source has the highest influence reaching the maximum value of 10%/% . Assuming uncertainty of δ 13 C value equals 0.5% , it transfers to ca.5% uncertainty of the derived component of the balance.…”

“…δ 13 C value reported for traffic-related sources has the range between −28.3 and −24.5% . 13 C isotope signatures of non-vehicle anthropogenic emissions range from −27.4 to −23.3% , whereas δ 13 C values of PM originating from biomass burning (C3 plants) range from −34.7 to −25.4% [13]. For the purpose of these calculations, we adopted values determined during previous studies in Krakow and its region.…”

“…There are a number of approaches aimed at source apportionment based on the statistical analysis of the chemical and elemental composition of PM [6,7] or application of isotope tracers for identifying emission sources. For instance, Garbariene et al [8] applied 13 C and 14 C isotopes to identify coal, biomass, and liquid fossil fuel derived submicron aerosol emissions in the region of Vilnius city (Lithuania). Another application of carbon isotopes for Xi'an region in China done by Ni et al [9] demonstrated a possibility of characterizing the origin of both carbon fractions, organic carbon (OC), and elemental carbon (EC).…”

Summer–winter contrast in carbon isotope and elemental composition of total suspended particulate matter in the urban atmosphere of Krakow, Southern Poland

“…Carbon isotope analysis of carbonaceous fraction of SPM became an important tool for apportionment of carbon sources. Number of researches used 13 C isotope signatures of carbonaceous aerosols as a marker of carbon origin [16,17]. Radiocarbon content in carbonaceous aerosols was used as a tool to quantify the contribution of carbon originating from combustion of fossil fuels [18,19].…”

Carbonaceous Fractions Contents and Carbon Stable Isotope Compositions of Aerosols Collected in the Atmosphere of Montreal (Canada): Seasonality, Sources, and Implications

“…This is also true for urban aerosols, where carbon stable isotopes (δ 13 C) have been widely used to identify sources of the total carbon (TC) in urban PM 10 (aerosols with an aerodynamic diameter <10 µm) (e.g., Widory et al, 2004;Lopez-Veneroni, 2009;Górka et al, 2012). One of the main strengths of this approach is that isotope systematics can usually unambiguously discriminate aerosol emissions of distinct origins (e.g., terrigenous, biogenic, industrial activity, and road traffic; Lopez-Veneroni, 2009;Cao et al, 2011;Ceburnis et al, 2011Ceburnis et al, , 2016Masalaite et al, 2015;Aguilera and Whigham, 2018). The reported range of δ 13 C for road traffic is from -28.3 to -24.5 , which is similar to the range of non-vehicular fuel sources such as coal, charcoal, and fireplace emissions (-30.1 to -23.4 ) (Aguilera and Whigham, 2018).…”