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Quantification of Hourly Speciated Organic Compounds in Atmospheric Aerosols, Measured by an In-Situ Thermal Desorption Aerosol Gas Chromatograph (TAG)
Authors:
Nathan M. Kreisberg a;
Susanne V. Hering a;
Brent J. Williams bc;
David R. Worton c;
Allen H. Goldstein c
| Affiliations: | a Aerosol Dynamics Inc., Berkeley, California, USA |
| b Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA | |
| c Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA |
DOI:
10.1080/02786820802459583
Publication Frequency:
12 issues per year
First Published on:
01 January 2009
Subjects:
Aerosol Science;
Environmental Engineering;
Industrial Engineering & Manufacturing;
Mechanical Engineering;
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Abstract
The Thermal desorption Aerosol Gas chromatograph (TAG) is a recently developed instrument for the in-situ, hourly measurement of speciated organic compounds in atmospheric aerosols. This paper presents a method for the in-field calibration of this instrument, with the objective of providing quantitative concentrations for a large suite of low polarity organic compounds. A new collection and thermal desorption cell was developed that incorporates an injection port for in-situ calibrations with liquid standard mixtures. Two classes of injection standards, instrument tracking and auxiliary, provide the means to calibrate the instrument in the field for a wide range of compounds. A routinely injected tracking standard suite of compounds generates a time-dependent correction of detector drift through the course of a measurement study that accounts for the bulk of the change in response of the TAG instrument. Injection response data for the tracking standard is also used to measure instrument precision and limits of quantitation. Auxiliary standards extend the range of compounds calibrated through use of relative response factors. The accuracy of this in-situ calibration approach is assessed through comparisons of TAG analyzed reference filter punches to published NIST assay values. A subset of compound classes, alkanes and PAHs, are used to illustrate the method and provide a means of reducing an 11-day period of data collected in Riverside, CA during the fall of 2005.
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