Comparison of sampling methods for carbonaceous aerosols in ambient air. Final report, May 1987-April 1988

Technical Report · Fri Apr 29 00:00:00 EDT 1988

OSTI ID:6694020

Hering, S V

Measurement methods for fine-particle carbon were compared under field-sampling conditions during the Carbonaceous Species Methods Comparison Study. Sampling methods included filtration, impaction and adsorption-corrected filtration. Systems were operated side-by-side for nine consecutive days in the Los Angeles Basin in August 1986. Analytical methods were compared separately. For organic carbon, ambient measurements showed greater variability than could be accounted for by differences in analytical measurements. Comparison of results from the different sampling systems and analysis of back-up filter data indicate adsorption artifacts on quartz-fiber filters can be significant. For the two impactor systems, the after-filters contained a large proportion of organic carbon (38% and 47%), but very little elemental carbon (5% and 12%). For systems employing tandem filters, the carbon found on the back-up filters was 14% to 53% of the aerosol carbon.

• Research Organization: California Univ., Los Angeles (USA). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
• OSTI ID: 6694020
• Report Number(s): PB-88-240452/XAB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500200* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AEROSOLS
AIR POLLUTION MONITORING
AIR SAMPLERS
CARBON
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
COLLOIDS
DISPERSIONS
DOCUMENT TYPES
ELEMENTS
EQUIPMENT
MATERIALS
NONMETALS
PARTICLES
PARTICULATES
PROGRESS REPORT
SAMPLERS
SAMPLING
SOLS