Analytical techniques for ambient sulfate aerosols

Technical Report · Mon Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1981

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6515722· OSTI ID:6515722

Johnson, S A; Graczyk, D G; Kumar, R; Cunningham, P T

Work done to further develop the infrared spectroscopic analytical method for the analysis of atmospheric aerosol particles, as well as some exploratory work on a new procedure for determining proton acidity in aerosol samples is described. Earlier work had led to the successful use of infrared (ir) spectrophotometry for the analysis of nitrate, ammonium, and neutral and acidic sulfates in aerosol samples collected by an impactor on a Mylar-film substrate. In this work, a filter-extraction method was developed to prepare filter-collected aerosol samples for ir analysis. A study was made comparing the ir analytical results on filter-collected samples with impactor-collected samples. Also, the infrared analytical technique was compared in field studies with light-scattering techniques for aerosol analysis. A highly sensitive instrument for aerosol analysis using attenuated total internal reflection (ATR) infrared spectroscopy was designed, built, and tested. This instrument provides a measurement sensitivity much greater (by a factor of 6 for SO/sub 4//sup 2 -/) than that obtainable using the KBr-pellet method. This instrument collect size- and time-resolved samples and is potentially capable of providing automated, near real-time aerosol analysis. Exploratory work on a novel approach to the determination of proton acidity in filter- or impactor-collected aerosol samples is also described. In this technique, the acidic sample is reacted with an access of a tagged, vapor-phase base. The unreacted base is flushed off and the amount of the tag retained by the sample is a direct measure of the proton acidity of the sample. The base was tagged with Ge, which can be conveniently determined by the x-ray fluorescence technique.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 6515722
• Report Number(s): ANL-81-12; ON: DE81024481
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500200* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ACID SULFATES
AEROSOL MONITORING
AEROSOLS
AMMONIUM COMPOUNDS
AMMONIUM SULFATES
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
COLLOIDS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DATA
DATA COMPILATION
DISPERSIONS
ELEMENTS
FILTERS
GERMANIUM
INFORMATION
INFRARED SPECTRA
ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS
METALS
MONITORING
NITRATES
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NONDESTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS
NUMERICAL DATA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PH VALUE
SOLS
SPECTRA
SPECTROPHOTOMETRY
SULFATES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
TRACER TECHNIQUES
X-RAY EMISSION ANALYSIS
X-RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS