References

ACP

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

ACP

1680-7324

Copernicus GmbH

Göttingen, Germany

10.5194/acp-12-10519-2012

Technical Note: The application of an improved gas and aerosol collector for ambient air pollutants in China

Dong

H.-B.

¹ ² ³ Zeng

L.-M.

² Hu

² Wu

Y.-S.

² Zhang

Y.-H.

² Slanina

² Zheng

² Wang

Z.-F.

¹ Jansen

² ⁴

State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, China

Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), Westerduinweg 3, Building 04, 1755 ZG Petten, The Netherlands

12 11 2012

12 21 10519 10533

This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/12/10519/2012/acp-12-10519-2012.html

The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/12/10519/2012/acp-12-10519-2012.pdf

An improved Gas and Aerosol Collector (GAC) equipped with a newly designed aerosol collector and a set of dull-polished wet annular denuder (WAD) was developed based on a Steam Jet Aerosol Collector (SJAC) sampler. Combined with Ion Chromatography (IC) the new sampler performed well in laboratory tests with high collection efficiencies for SO2 (above 98%) and particulate sulfate (as high as 99.5%). An inter-comparison between the GAC-IC system and the filter-pack method was performed and the results indicated that the GAC-IC system could supply reliable particulate sulfate, nitrate, chloride, and ammonium data in field measurement with a much wider range of ambient concentrations. When applied in two major field campaigns (rural and coastal sites) in China, the GAC-IC system provided high-quality data in ambient conditions even under high loadings of pollutants. Its measurements were highly correlated with data by other commercial instruments such as the SO2 analyzer (43c, Thermo-Fisher, USA; R2 as 0.96), the HONO analyzer (LOPAP, Germany; R2 as 0.91 for samples from 15:00 to 07:00), a filter sampler (Tianhong, China; R2 as 0.86 for SO42−), and Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS, Aerodyne, USA; R2 above 0.77 for major species) over a wide range of concentrations. Through the application of the GAC-IC system, it was identified that 70% of chloride and nitrate by the filter method could be lost during daytime sampling due to high temperature in the rural site of Kaiping. In Changdao field campaign (coastal site), though a particle dryer was applied, its drying efficiency was not well considered for the collection efficiency of AMS seemed still interfered a bit by local high relative humidity. If the inter-comparison was done with relative humidity below 50%, the correlations ranged from 0.81 to 0.94 for major species. Through laboratory and field studies, this instrument is proved particularly useful in future intensive campaigns or long-term monitoring stations to study various environmental issues such as secondary aerosol and haze formation, as well as climate change.

References 1

Allan, J. D., Bower, K. N., Coe, H., Boudries, H., Jayne, J. T., Canagaratna, M. R., Millet, D. B., Goldstein, A. H., Quinn, P. K., Weber R. J., and Worsnop, D. R.: Submicron aerosol composition at Trinidad Head, CA during ITCT 2K2, its relationship with gas phase volatile organic carbon and assessment of instrument performance, J. Geophys. Res..-Atmos., 109, D23S24, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2003JD004208doi:10.1029/2003JD004208, 2004.

Andreae, M. O., Schmid, O., Yang, H., Chand, D., Yu, J. Z., Zeng, L. M., and Zhang, Y. H.: Optical properties and chemical composition of the atmospheric aerosol in urban Guangzhou, China, Atmos. Environ., 42, 6335–6350, 2008.

Andrews, E., Saxena, P., Musarra, S., Hildemann, L. M., Koutrakis, P., McMurry, P. H., Olmez, I., and White, W. H.: Concentration and composition of atmospheric aerosols from the 1995 SEAVS experiment and a review of the closure between chemical and gravimetric measurements, J. Air Waste Manag. Assoc., 50, 648–664, 2000.

Chow, J. C.: Measurement methods to determine compliance with ambient air quality standards for suspended particles, J. Air Waste Manag. Assoc., 45, 320–382, 1995.

Chow, J. C., Chen, L. W. A., Watson, J. G., Lowenthal, D. H., Magliano, K. A., Turkiewicz, K., and Lehrman, D. E.: PM$_2.5$ chemical composition and spatiotemporal variability during the California Regional PM$_10$/PM$_2.5$ Air Quality Study (CRPAQS), J. Geophys. Res., 111, D10S–D14S, 2006.

DeCarlo, P. F., Kimmel, J. R., Trimborn, A., Northway, M. J., Jayne, J. T., Aiken, A. C., Gonin, M., Fuhrer, K., Horvath, T., Docherty, K. S., Worsnop, D. R., and Jimenez, J. L.: Field-Deployable, High-Resolution, Time-of-Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer, Anal. Chem., 78, 8281–8289, 2006.

Drewnick, F., Schwab, J. J., Hogrefe, O., Peters, S., Husain, L., Diamond, D., Weber, R., and Demerjian, K. L.: Intercomparison and evaluation of four semi-continuous PM$_2.5$ sulfate instruments, Atmos. Environ., 37, 3335–3350, 2003.

Genfa, Z., Slanina, S., Boring, C. B., Jongejan, P. A. C., and Dasgupta, K.: Continous wet denuder measurements of atmospheric nitric and nitrous acid during the 1999 Atlanta supersite, Atmos. Environ., 37, 1351–1364, 2003.

Gutzwiller, L., Arens, F., Baltensperger, U., Gäggeler, H. W., and Ammann, M.: Significance of Semivolatile diesel exhaust organics for secondary HONO formation, Environ. Sci. Technol., 36, 677–682, 2002.

Hagler, G. S. W., Bergin, M. H., Salmon, L. G., Yu, J. Z., Wan, E. C. H., Zheng, M., Zeng, L. M., Kiang, C. S., Zhang, Y. H., Lau, A. K. H., and Schauer, J. J.: Source areas and chemical composition of fine particulate matter in the Pearl River Delta region of China [J], Atmos. Environ, 40, 3802–3815, 2006.

Heland, J., Kleffmann, J., Kurtenbach, R., and Wiesen, P.: A new instrument to measure gaseous nitrous acid (HONO) in the atmosphere, Environ. Sci. Technol., 35, 3207–3212, 2001.

Hillamo, R., Allegrini, I., Sparapani, R., and Kerminen, V. M.: Mass size distributions and precursor gas concentrations of major inorganic ions in'Antarctic aerosol, Int. J. Environ. An. Ch., 71, 353–372, 1998.

Homolya, J., Taylor, S., Smiley, J., Anderson, D., Bohlin, M., Frost, J., Michel, E., and Pausel, S.: A Multi-Site Performance Comparison of Semi-Continuous Carbon, Nitrate and Sulfate Monitors, available at: http://www.epa.gov/ttnamti1/files/ambient/pm25/workshop/atlanta/cont1.pdf (last access: 2 January 2012), 2005.

Hu, M., Zhou, F. M., Shao, K. S., Zhang, Y. H., Tang, X. Y., and Slanina, J.: Diurnal variations of aerosol chemical compositions and related gaseous pollutants in Beijing and Guangzhou, J. Environ. Sci. Heal. A, 37, 479–488, 2002.

Huang, X.-F., He, L.-Y., Hu, M., Canagaratna, M. R., Kroll, J. H., Ng, N. L., Zhang, Y.-H., Lin, Y., Xue, L., Sun, T.-L., Liu, X.-G., Shao, M., Jayne, J. T., and Worsnop, D. R.: Characterization of submicron aerosols at a rural site in Pearl River Delta of China using an Aerodyne High-Resolution Aerosol Mass Spectrometer, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 11, 1865–1877, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-1865-2011doi:10.5194/acp-11-1865-2011, 2011.

Jayne, J. T., Leard, D. C., Zhang, X., Davidovits, P., Smith, K. A., Kolb, C. E., and Worsnop, D. R.: Development of an aerosol mass spectrometer for size and composition analysis of submicron particles, Aerosol Sci. Tech., 33, 49–70, 2000.

Keuken, M. P., Wayers-IJpelaan, A., Mols, J. J., Otjes, R. P., and Slanina, J.: The determination of ammonia in ambient air by an automated thermodenuder system, Atmos. Environ., 23, 2177–2185, 1989.

Khlystov, A., Wyers, G. P., and Slanina, J.: The steam-jet aerosol collector, Atmos. Environ., 29, 2229–2234, 1995.

Khoder, M. I.: Atmospheric conversion of sulfur dioxide to particulate sulfate and nitrogen dioxide to particulate nitrate and gaseous nitric acid in an urban area, Chemosphere, 49, 675–684, 2002.

Lai, S. C., Zou, S. C., Cao, J. J., Lee, S. C., and Ho, K. F.: Characterizing ionic species in PM$_2.5$ and PM$_10$ in four Pearl River Delta cities, south China, J. Environ. Sci., 19, 939–947, 2007.

Li, X., Brauers, T., Häseler, R., Bohn, B., Fuchs, H., Hofzumahaus, A., Holland, F., Lou, S., Lu, K. D., Rohrer, F., Hu, M., Zeng, L. M., Zhang, Y. H., Garland, R. M., Su, H., Nowak, A., Wiedensohler, A., Takegawa, N., Shao, M., and Wahner, A.: Exploring the atmospheric chemistry of nitrous acid (HONO) at a rural site in Southern China, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 1497–1513, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-1497-2012doi:10.5194/acp-12-1497-2012, 2012.

Makkonen, U., Virkkula, A., Mäntykenttä, J., Hakola, H., Keronen, P., Vakkari, V., and Aalto, P. P.: Semi-continuous gas and inorganic aerosol measurements at a Finnish urban site: comparisons with filters, nitrogen in aerosol and gas phases, and aerosol acidity, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 5617–5631, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-5617-2012doi:10.5194/acp-12-5617-2012, 2012.

Nie, W., Wang, T., Gao, X., Pathak, R.K., Wang, X., Gao, R., Zhang, Q., Yang, L., and Wang, W.: Comparison among filter-based, impactor-based and continuous techniques for measuring atmospheric fine sulfate and nitrate, Atmos. Environ., 44, 4396–4403, 2010.

Niessner, R. and Klockow, D.: A thermoanalytical approach to speciation of atmospheric strong acids, Int. J. Environ. An. Ch., 8, 163–175, 1980.

Qin, M., Xie, P., Su, H., Gu, J., Peng, F., Li, S., Zeng, L., Liu, J., Liu,W., and Zhang, Y.: An observational study of the HONOeNO2 coupling at an urban site in Guangzhou City, South China. Atmos. Environ., 43, 5731–5742, 2009.

Seinfeld, J. and Pandis, S.: Atmospheric chemistry and physics, Wiley-Interscience, New York, NY, USA, 2nd Edn., 2006

Simon, P. K. and Dasgupta, P. K.: Wet effluent denuder coupled liquid_ion chromatography systems annular and parallel plate denuders, Anal. Chem., 65, 1134–1139, 1993.

Slanina, J., Ten Brink, H. M., Otjes, R. P., Even, A., Jongejan, P., Khlystov, A., Waijers-Ijpelaan, A., Hu, M., and Lu, Y.: The continuous analysis of nitrate and ammonium in aerosols by the Steam Jet Aerosol Collector (SJAC): extension and validation of the methodology, Atmos. Environ., 35, 2319–2330, 2001.

Spindler, G., Hesper, J., Brüggemann, E., Dubois, R., Müller, Th., and Herrmann, H.: Wet annular denuder measurements of nitrous acid: laboratory study of the artefact reaction of NO2 with S(IV) in aqueous solution and comparison with field measurements, Atmos. Environ., 37, 2643–2662, 2003.

Stolzenburg, M. R. and Hering, S. V.: A new method for the automated measurement of atmospheric fine particle nitrate, Environ. Sci. Technol., 34, 907–914, 2000.

Su, H., Cheng, Y. F., Shao, M., Gao, D. F., Yu, Z. Y., Zeng, L. M., Slanina, J., Zhang, Y. H., and Wiedensohler, A.: Nitrous acid (HONO) and its daytime sources at a rural site during the 2004 PRIDE-PRD experiment in China, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 113, D14312, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2007JD009060doi:10.1029/2007JD009060, 2008a.

Su, H., Cheng, Y. F., Cheng, P., Zhang, Y. H., Dong, S. F., Zeng, L. M., Wang, X. S., Slanina, J., Shao, M., and Wiedensohler, A.: Observation of nighttime nitrous acid (HONO) formation at a non-urban site during PRIDE-PRD2004 in China, Atmos. Environ., 42, 6219–6232, 2008b.

Takegawa, N., Miyakawa, T., Kuwata, M., Kondo, Y., Zhao, Y., Han, S., Kita, K., Miyazaki, Y., Deng, Z., Xiao, R. Hu, M., van Pinxteren, D., Herrmann, H., Hofzumahaus, A., Holland, F., Wahner, A., Blake, D. R., Sugimoto, N., and Zhu, T.: Variability of submicron aerosol observed at a rural site in beijing in the summer of 2006, J. Geophys. Res, 114, D00G05, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2008JD010857doi:10.1029/2008JD010857, 2009.

Timonen, H., Aurela, M., Carbone, S., Saarnio, K., Saarikoski, S., Mäkelä, T., Kulmala, M., Kerminen, V.-M., Worsnop, D. R., and Hillamo, R.: High time-resolution chemical characterization of the water-soluble fraction of ambient aerosols with PILS-TOC-IC and AMS, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 3, 1063–1074, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/amt-3-1063-2010doi:10.5194/amt-3-1063-2010, 2010.

Trebs, I., Meixner, F. X., Slanina, J., Otjes, R., Jongejan, P., and Andreae, M. O.: Real-time measurements of ammonia, acidic trace gases and water-soluble inorganic aerosol species at a rural site in the Amazon Basin, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 4, 967–987, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-4-967-2004doi:10.5194/acp-4-967-2004, 2004.

Vecera, Z. and Dasgupta, P. K.: Measurement of ambient nitrous acid and a reliable calibration source for gaseous nitrous acid, Environ. Sci. Technol., 25, 255–260, 1991.

Wang, Y., Zhuang, G., Zhang, X., Huang, K., Xu, C., Tang, A., Chen, J., and An, Z.: The ion chemistry, seasonal cycle, and sources of PM$_2.5$ and TSP aerosol in Shanghai, Atmos. Environ., 40, 2935–2952, 2006. \hack

Weber, R. J., Orsini, D., Daun, Y., Lee, Y. N., Klotz, P. J., and Brechtel, F.: A particle-into-liquid collector for rapid measurement of aerosol bulk chemical composition, Aerosol Sci. Tech., 35, 718–727, 2001.

Weber, R. J., Orsini, D., Duan, Y., Baumann, K., Kiang, C. S., Chameides, W., Lee, Y. N., Brechtel, F., Klotz, P., Jongejan, P., Brink, H. T., Slanina, J., Boring, C. B., Genfa, Z., Dasgupta, P., Hering, S., Stolzenburg, M., Dutcher, D. D., Edgerton, E., Hartsell, B., Solomon, P., and Tanner, R.: Intercomparison of near real-time monitors of PM$_2.5$ nitrate and sulfate at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Atlanta Supersite, J. Geophys. Res., 108, 8421, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2001JD001220doi:10.1029/2001JD001220, 2003.

Wittig, A. E., Takahama, S., Khlystov, A. Y., Pandis, S. N., Hering, S., Kirby, B., and Davidson, C.: Semi-continuous PM$_2.5$ inorganic composition measurements during the Pittsburgh Air Quality Study, Atmos. Environ., 34, 3201–3213, 2004.

Wu, W. S. and Wang, T.: On the performance of a semi-continuous PM$_2.5$ sulphate and nitrate instrument under high loadings of particulate and sulphur dioxide, Atmos. Environ., 41, 5442–5451, 2007.

Yao, X., Chan, C. K., Fang, M., Cadle, S., Chan, T., Mulawa, P., He, K., and Ye, B.: The water-soluble ionic composition of PM$_2.5$ in Shanghai and Beijing, China, Atmos. Environ., 36, 4223–4234, 2002.