Source apportionment of atmospheric PAHs within the Presque Isle Bay region

The overall goal of this study was to identify and apportion the major sources of ambient polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to the Presque Isle Bay region of Lake Erie. A mass balance approach was used to estimate relative source contributions using the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) chemical mass balance model (CMB, version 8.2). The CMB model is a receptor model that determines the best-fit linear combination of source emission profiles required to reconstruct the chemical composition of ambient air samples. Inputs to the model included 12-month ambient monitoring data collected at three separate sites within the Erie, Pennsylvania area during 2005 and 2006. The source profiles for five major PAH sources were gathered from the literature and included coke oven emissions, wood burning, gasoline vehicles, diesel vehicles and incineration. Preliminary results show that the major source of PAHs within the Presque Isle Bay region during the measurement period resulted from gasoline and diesel vehicles. The source contributions, however, showed distinct differences across seasons and between the three sampling sites.