The development and uses of EPA’s SPECIATE database

Abstract

SPECIATE is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) repository of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulate matter (PM) speciation profiles of air pollution sources. These source profiles can be used to (1) provide input to chemical mass balance (CMB) receptor models; (2) verify profiles derived from ambient measurements by multivariate receptor models (e.g., factor analysis and positive matrix factorization); (3) interpret ambient measurement data; and (4) create speciated emission inventories for regional haze, climate, and photochemical air quality modeling. This paper describes the SPECIATE v4.2 database, provides specific examples of its use, and makes recommendations for future improvements.