Temperature-induced volatility of molecular markers in ambient airborne particulate matter

Ruehl, C. R.; Ham, Walter; Kleeman, Michael J.

doi:10.5194/acp-11-67-2011

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…On the other hand, warmer months' concentrations were 7.3±1.5 ng/m 3 and 7.9±1.6 ng/m 3 , indicating about 2 fold increase in colder months period in both sites. The lower levels of n-alkanes during warmer months could be due to volatilization of particulate phase into gas phase (Ruehl et al, 2011). Furthermore, the elevated concentration in colder months can be attributed to the lower atmospheric mixing height in the winter that limited dilution of total n-alkanes, in addition to the increased source strengths of these species in the winter.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There have been a number of laboratory studies that have suggested that some of the tracers used in the current model are semi-volatile and reactive and may not be suitable for use as source tracers (May et al, 2012; Ruehl et al, 2011). However, a comparison of source apportionment methods using real world data sets have shown good agreement across CMB, PMF, and UNMIX, which would not be expected if the key tracers for these sources (i.e.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fine and ultrafine particulate organic carbon in the Los Angeles basin: Trends in sources and composition

Shirmohammadi

Hasheminassab

Saffari

et al. 2016

Science of The Total Environment

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In this study, PM2.5 and PM0.18 (particles with dp < 2.5μm and dp < 0.18μm, respectively) were collected during 2012-2013 in Central Los Angeles (LA) and 2013-2014 in Anaheim. Samples were chemically analyzed for carbonaceous species (elemental and organic carbon) and individual organic compounds. Concentrations of organic compounds were reported and compared with many previous studies in Central LA to quantify the impact of emissions control measurements that have been implemented for vehicular emissions over the past decades in this area. Moreover, a novel hybrid approach of molecular marker-based chemical mass balance (MM-CMB) analysis was conducted, in which a combination of source profiles that were previously obtained from a Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) model in Central LA, were combined with some traditional source profiles. The model estimated the relative contributions from mobile sources (including gasoline, diesel, and smoking vehicles), wood smoke, primary biogenic sources (including emissions from vegetative detritus, food cooking, and re-suspended soil dust), and anthropogenic secondary organic carbon (SOC). Mobile sources contributed to 0.65±0.25 μg/m3 and 0.32±0.25 μg/m3 of PM2.5 OC in Central LA and Anaheim, respectively. Primary biogenic and anthropogenic SOC sources were major contributors to OC concentrations in both size fractions and sites. Un-apportioned OC (“other OC”) accounted for an average 8.0 and 26 % of PM2.5 OC concentration in Central LA and Anaheim, respectively. A comparison with previous studies in Central LA revealed considerable reduction of EC and OC, along with tracers of mobile sources (e.g. PAHs, hopanes and steranes) as a result of implemented regulations on vehicular emissions. Given the significant reduction of the impacts of mobile sources in the past decade in the LA Basin, the impact of SOC and primary biogenic emissions have a larger relative impact and the new hybrid model allows the impact of these sources to be better quantified.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fine and ultrafine particulate organic carbon in the Los Angeles basin: Trends in sources and composition

Shirmohammadi

Hasheminassab

Saffari

et al. 2016

Science of The Total Environment

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“…The monosaccharide anhydrides (MAs) levoglucosan, galactosan and mannosan are products of the incomplete combustion and pyrolysis of cellulose and hemicelluloses, and are thus constituents of biomass burning (BB) aerosol (Hornig et al, 1985;Simoneit, 1999). The presence of MAs has been demonstrated in emissions from wood combustion (Oros and Simoneit, 1999;Fine et al, 2001;Nolte et al, 2001;Schmidl et al, 2008;Frey et al, 2009;Gonçalves et al, , 2011Orasche et al, 2012) as well as from wildfires, prescribed and agricultural fires (dos Santos et al, 2002;Gao et al, 2003;Sillanpää et al, 2005;Mazzoleni et al, 2007;Sullivan et al, 2008;Alves et al, 2010;Saarnio et al, 2010a;Vicente et al, 2012;Wang et al, 2011). Recently, it has been shown that combustion of peat (Iinuma et al, 2007;Kourtchev et al, 2011) as well as of certain types of brown coal (Fabbri et al, 2009) could be additional sources of ambient aerosol concentrations of MAs in regions where such fuels are utilised.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An intercomparison study of analytical methods used for quantification of levoglucosan in ambient aerosol filter samples

Yttri¹,

Schnelle-Kreis²,

Maenhaut³

et al. 2014

Preprint

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Abstract. The monosaccharide anhydrides (MAs) levoglucosan, galactosan and mannosan are products of incomplete combustion and pyrolysis of cellulose and hemicelluloses, and are found to be major constituents of biomass burning aerosol particles. Hence, ambient aerosol particle concentrations of levoglucosan are commonly used to study the influence of residential wood burning, agricultural waste burning and wild fire emissions on ambient air quality. A European-wide intercomparison on the analysis of the three monosaccharide anhydrides was conducted based on ambient aerosol quartz fiber filter samples collected at a Norwegian urban background site during winter. Thus, the samples' content of MAs is representative for biomass burning particles originating from residential wood burning. The purpose of the intercomparison was to examine the comparability of the great diversity of analytical methods used for analysis of levoglucosan, mannosan and galactosan in ambient aerosol filter samples. Thirteen laboratories participated, of which three applied High-Performance Anion-Exchange Chromatography (HPAEC), four used High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) or Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC), and six resorted to Gas Chromatography (GC). The analytical methods used were of such diversity that they should be considered as thirteen different analytical methods. All of the thirteen laboratories reported levels of levoglucosan, whereas nine reported data for mannosan and/or galactosan. Eight of the thirteen laboratories reported levels for all three isomers. The accuracy for levoglucosan, presented as the mean percentage error (PE) for each participating laboratory, varied from −63 to 23%; however, for 62% of the laboratories the mean PE was within ±10%, and for 85% the mean PE was within ±20%. For mannosan, the corresponding range was −60 to 69%, but as for levoglucosan, the range was substantially smaller for a subselection of the laboratories; i.e., for 33% of the laboratories the mean PE was within ±10%. For galactosan, the mean PE for the participating laboratories ranged from −84 to 593%, and as for mannosan 33% of the laboratories reported a mean PE within ±10%. The variability of the various analytical methods, as defined by their minimum and maximum PE value, was typically better for levoglucosan than for mannosan and galactosan, ranging from 3.2 to 41% for levoglucosan, from 10 to 67% for mannosan, and from 6 to 364% for galactosan. For the levoglucosan to mannosan ratio, which may be used to assess the relative importance of softwood vs. hardwood burning, the variability only ranged from 3.5 to 24%. To our knowledge, this is the first major intercomparison on analytical methods used to quantify monosaccharide anhydrides in ambient aerosol filter samples conducted and reported in the scientific literature. The results show that for levoglucosan the accuracy is only slightly lower than that reported for analysis of SO42− on filter samples, a constituent that has been analyzed by numerous laboratories for several decades, typically by ion chromatography, and which is considered a fairly easy constituent to measure. Hence, the results obtained for levoglucosan with respect to accuracy are encouraging and suggest that levels of levoglucosan, and to a lesser extent mannosan and galactosan, obtained by most of the analytical methods currently used to quantify monosaccharide anhydrides in ambient aerosol filter samples, are comparable. Finally, the various analytical methods used in the current study should be tested for other aerosol matrices and concentrations as well, the most obvious being summertime aerosol samples affected by wild fires and/or agricultural fires.

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“…Species in OC2 may contain carboxylic acids, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and steranes . PAHs and steranes are anthropogenic emissions markers for incomplete fossil fuel combustion and motor oil emissions, − and carboxylic acids originate from oxidation of biogenic and anthropogenic VOCs or direct emission from fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning . Changes in PC may be due to misapportioned EC, and some laboratory analyses connect PC to WSOC .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing Nature of Organic Carbon over the United States

Christiansen

Carlton

Porter

2020

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Total organic carbon (TOC) mass concentrations are decreasing across the contiguous United States (CONUS). We investigate decadal trends in organic carbon (OC) thermal fractions [OC1 (volatilizes at 140 °C), OC2 (280 °C), OC3 (480 °C), OC4 (580 °C)] and pyrolyzed carbon (PC), reported at 121 locations in the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) network from 2005 to 2015 for 23 regions across the CONUS. Reductions in PC and OC2 drive decreases in TOC (TOC = OC1 + OC2 + OC3 + OC4 + PC) mass concentrations. OC2 decreases by 40% from 2005 to 2015, and PC decreases by 34%. The largest absolute mass decreases occur in the eastern United States, and relative changes normalized to local concentrations are more uniform across the CONUS.OC is converted to organic mass (OM) using region-and season-specific OM:OC ratios. Simulations with GEOS-Chem reproduce OM trends and suggest that decreases across the CONUS are due to aerosol liquid water (ALW) chemistry. Individual model species, notably aerosol derived from isoprene oxidation products and formed in ALW, correlate significantly (p < 0.05) with OM2, even in arid regions. These findings contribute to literature that suggests air quality rules aimed at SO 2 and NO x emissions induce the cobenefit of reducing organic particle mass through ALW chemistry, and these benefits extend beyond the eastern United States.

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Temperature-induced volatility of molecular markers in ambient airborne particulate matter

Cited by 13 publications

References 41 publications

Fine and ultrafine particulate organic carbon in the Los Angeles basin: Trends in sources and composition

Fine and ultrafine particulate organic carbon in the Los Angeles basin: Trends in sources and composition

An intercomparison study of analytical methods used for quantification of levoglucosan in ambient aerosol filter samples

Changing Nature of Organic Carbon over the United States

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