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www.atmos-meas-tech-discuss.net/3/5375/2010/
doi:10.5194/amtd-3-5375-2010
© Author(s) 2010. This work is distributed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
On the quantification of atmospheric carbonate carbon by thermal/optical analysis protocols
1Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
2Institute of Nuclear Technology and Radiation Protection, Environmental Radioactivity Laboratory, National Centre of Scientific Research "Demokritos", 15310 Ag. Paraskevi, Attiki, Greece
Abstract. Carbonaceous species, usually classified into two categories, organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC), constitute an important component of the atmospheric aerosol. Carbonate carbon (CC), or inorganic carbon, another constituent of carbonaceous material, is often not considered in many atmospheric chemistry studies. The reason for this may be its low contribution to fine particle mass in most areas studied, along with the difficulties in its analytical determination in atmospheric aerosols. The objective of this study was the quantification of atmospheric carbonate concentrations using the thermal optical transmittance method (Sunset Laboratory, Inc.). Three different temperature protocols (two modified NIOSH protocols and the EUSAAR-2 protocol) were tested on filter samples containing known amounts of CC. Moreover, the performance of the two most widely used protocols across European countries (NIOSH and EUSAAR-2) was also checked on two different instruments namely the semi-continuous OCEC analyzer and the laboratory OCEC analyzer. NIOSH-840 thermal protocol (NIOSH protocol with a maximum temperature of 840 °C in the He-mode) can be used for the detection and quantification of atmospheric carbonate concentrations. CC was determined in ambient PM10 and PM2.5 samples From Athens and Barcelona by using the NIOSH-840 thermal protocol. The results confirm that in South European countries CC may constitute a significant fraction of carbonaceous aerosols (~15%), thus it should not be neglected. However, the NIOSH-840 protocol seems to overestimate the OC concentrations when compared to the EUSAAR-2 protocol. The results suggest that during dust episodes, common for the Southern Europe, the analytical laboratories could use the NIOSH-840 protocol as a suitable method for the carbonate determination and manually integrate the sharp peak that appears in the maximum temperature step in the inert mode. Afterwards, carbonate should be evaporated by a fumigation method and one could then apply the EUSAAR-2 protocol for the precise determination of OC and EC fractions.
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Notice on Discussion StatusCitation: Karanasiou, A., Diapouli, E., Viana, M., Alastuey, A., Querol, X., Reche, C., and Eleftheriadis, K.: On the quantification of atmospheric carbonate carbon by thermal/optical analysis protocols, Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., 3, 5375-5409, doi:10.5194/amtd-3-5375-2010, 2010. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager XML
