Field intercomparison of diffusive samplers for measuring ammonia

Abstract

Agricultural production systems are recognised as a major source of atmospheric ammonia. Deposition of ammonia and ammonium may contribute to undesired changes in oligotrophic ecosystems. The continuous measurement of atmospheric ammonia requires expensive and sophisticated techniques and is performed only in a very restrict number of ambient air stations in Europe. Therefore, the application of passive samplers, which have the advantage of being easy to handle and cost-efficient, is useful. In the past the comparability of different passive samplers must be considered as rather scarce. In a joint European project under the leadership of the GSF-Forschungszentrum für Umwelt und Gesundheit, Neuherberg, in 1997 a comparison of different passive ammonia monitoring methods was carried out in a prealpine rural site near Garmisch-Partenkirchen. It was considered valuable to include not only well established systems but also methods still being developed. For the comparative test ten working groups with different methods took part. A wet annular denuder system, which has been developed by the Netherlands Energy Research Foundation for on-line measurement of atmospheric ammonia, served as reference of passive methods. The experiment, which started in June and finished in December, showed that most of the passive samplers fulfil the requirements and can be recommended for further measurements. Additional measurements of meteorological parameters were performed to check the influences of different weather conditions on passive sampling.

Ammonia emissions from a broiler farm: spatial variability of airborne concentrations in the vicinity and impact on adjacent woodland

“…This coincided well with the results of Kirchner et al (1999) which reported RSD=15.2% and were valid for the same badge-type samplers with a 1-week exposure. Fur- thermore, Kirchner et al (1999) obtained smaller RSD at a longer exposure time. In the same study, an overall uncertainty of 75% for a 1-week exposure was detected.…”

“…3). Kirchner et al (1999) reported a comparison of different passive samplers observed over 1, 2 and 4 weeks of exposure. For badge-type B samplers, the overall uncertainty varied between 25% for 2 weeks and 16% for 4 weeks of exposure.…”

The Measuring Ammonia in Nature (MAN) network in the Netherlands

“…Passive samplers for ammonia have been analysed before for precision and accuracy (Thijsse et al, 1998;Thöni et al, 2003;Kirchner et al, 1999;Puchalski et al, 2011). None of these methods however uses the concept of a network of inexpensive sensors calibrated for each batch against a few high-quality measuring devices.…”

Air Quality in Horse Stables

“…Passive sampling is a convenient method for ammonia measurements. Passive samplers (IVL, The Swedish Environmental Research Institute, Gothenburg, Sweden) were put out at approximately 1.5m above the floor for 24 hours at three times during a week (Kirchner et al, 1999). Indoor samples were compared with outdoor sampling for 1 week at different distances from the stable (1-100m).…”