99
Speciated
Organic Composition of Atmospheric Aerosols: A New In-Situ Instrument--Aerosol
Dynamics, Inc.,
Dr.
Susanne V. Hering, Principal Investigator,
Dr.
Susanne V. Hering, Business Official,
DOE
Grant No. DE-FG02-03ER83825
Amount:
$545,000
Energy production and the combustion of
fossil fuels are sources of organic aerosols that have been linked to
environmental degradation, human health problems, and changes in the radiative
transfer properties of earth’s atmosphere.
New techniques are needed for the time-resolved in-situ
characterization of the organic composition of atmospheric aerosols in order to
understand their sources, sinks, and transformations.
This project will develop a new, automated in-situ
instrument for the routine identification and quantification of organic
compounds in atmospheric aerosols. An
integrated collection and analysis approach will utilize the impaction and
direct thermal desorption of particulate samples, along with gas chromatographic
separation and mass spectrometry detection.
Phase I demonstrated the efficient transfer of samples to a collection
and thermal desorption cell, as well as the efficient collection of particles
within the cell. Reproducibility
(CV=12%) was demonstrated for collocated sampling and analysis.
Phase II will incorporate the collection and thermal desorption cell into
a fully automated aerosol GC/MS instrument; design, construct, and validate an
on-line aerosol calibration system to provide both internal and external
standards; evaluate system integrity with laboratory standards; compare the
analyses to filter-based measurements, and validate the instrument through field
deployment with a suite of collocated measurements.
Commercial
Applications and Other Benefits
as described by awardee: A
commercially viable instrument for routine, hourly monitoring of the organic
composition of atmospheric aerosols should substantially lower the cost per
sample and increase the time resolution compared to current methods of filter
collection, solvent extraction, and analysis.