Artifacts of ionic species for hi-vol PM10 and PM10 dichotomous samplers

Abstract

This study employs two Annular Denuder Systems (ADS(10) and ADS(2.5)) to quantify sampling artifacts of soluble ionic species determined by the high-volume PM10 (hi-vol PM10) sampler using quartz fiber filters and PM10 dichotomous (Dichot) sampler using Teflon filters. According to the experimental results, the percentage of artifact of a species over the actual species concentrationis +11, +8 and +15% for PM10HV, PM10DICH, PM2.5DICH, respectively, for sulfate species; -16, -21 and -21% for PM10HV, PM10DICH, PM2.5DICH, respectively, for nitrate species; -24, -32 and -54% for PM10HV, PM10DICH, PM2.5DICH, respectively, for for chloride ion species; -17, -21 and -18% for PM10HV, PM10DICH, PM2.5DICH, respectively, for ammonium ion species. For volatile species such as nitrate, ammonium and chloride ions, additional sampling losses due to gas-particle and particle-particle interactions are more important than pure volatilization loss. Amount of positive and negative artifacts is approximately equal and the amount of net artifact does not account for more than 15% of PM10 concentration. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.