The sulfur species existing in different size aerosol particles were determined based on the ＇white line＇ energy shift and the features of post edge structure of sulfur K-edge XANES （X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure）. The results indicated that sulfates were dominant sulfur species in aerosol particles. However, small amount of reductive sulfur species were also found in the ultrafine aerosol particles（〈0.1 μm）. Sulfates in aerosols mostly exhibited as （NH4）2SO4 and gypsum. than 0.952 μm, while gypsum was the dominant sulfate Most （NH4）2SO4 distributed in aerosol particles finer in coarse aerosols.
Sulfur K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure （XANES） spectroscopy was employed to study the speciation of sulfur in raw coal, ash by-product and fine particulate matter from a small coal-burning boiler. By means of least square analysis of the XANES spectra, the major organic and inorganic sulfur forms were quantitatively determined. The results show that about 70% of the sulfur in raw coal is present as organic and a minor fraction of the sulfur occurs as other forms： 17% of pyrite and 13% of sulfate. While in bottom ash, fly ash, and PM2.5, the dominant form of sulfur is sulfate, with the percentage of 80,79 and 94, respectively. Moreover, a number of other reduced sulfur including thiophenic sulfur, element sulfur and pyrrhotite are also present. During coal combustion, most of organic sulfur and pyrite were oxidized and released into the atmosphere as SO2 gas, part of them was converted to sulfate existing in coal combustion by-products, and a small part of pyrite was probably reduced to elemental sulfur and pyrrhotite. The results may provide information for assessing the pollution caused by small boiler and developing new methods for the control of SO2 pollution.
The characteristics of daytime and nighttime suburbs PM2.5 in Shanghai were analyzed by synchrotron based X-ray fluorescence during the period of October, 2006 and November, 2007. The mass concentrations of nighttime PM2.5 was approximately two times that of daytime PM2.5. Some elements, such as Zn, Cu, Mn, Cl were found enriched at night. The local sources might have significant contribution to the nighttime PM2.5 pollutions.
The impact of coal-burning emission on sulfur in camphor leaves was investigated using Proton Induced X-ray Emission （PIXE） and synchrotron radiation technique X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure （XANES） spectroscopy. The PIXE results show that the sulfur concentrations in the leaves collected at the polluted site are significantly higher than those in controls. The Sulfur XANES spectra show the presence of organic （disulfides, thiols, thioethers, sulfonates and sulfoxides） and inorganic sulfur （sulfates） in the leaves. The inorganic sulfur in the leaves of camphor tree polluted by coal combustion is 15% more than that of the control site. The results suggest that the long-term coal-burning pollution resulted in an enhanced content of the total sulfur and sulfate in the leaves, and the uptake of sulfur by leaves had exceeded the metabolic requirement of plants and the excess of sulfur was stored as SO4^2-. It can monitor the sulfur pollution in atmosphere.
