Analytical techniques for ambient sulfate aerosols

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Abstract
Work done to further develop the infrared spectroscopic analytical method for the analysis of atmospheric aerosol particles, as well as some exploratory work on a new procedure for determining proton acidity in aerosol samples is described. Earlier work had led to the successful use of infrared (ir) spectrophotometry for the analysis of nitrate, ammonium, and neutral and acidic sulfates in aerosol samples collected by an impactor on a Mylar-film substrate. In this work, a filter-extraction method was developed to prepare filter-collected aerosol samples for ir analysis. A study was made comparing the ir analytical results on filter-collected samples with impactor-collected samples. Also, the infrared analytical technique was compared in field studies with light-scattering techniques for aerosol analysis. A highly sensitive instrument for aerosol analysis using attenuated total internal reflection (ATR) infrared spectroscopy was designed, built, and tested. This instrument provides a measurement sensitivity much greater (by a factor of 6 for SO/sub 4//sup 2 -/) than that obtainable using the KBr-pellet method. This instrument collect size- and time-resolved samples and is potentially capable of providing automated, near real-time aerosol analysis. Exploratory work on a novel approach to the determination of proton acidity in filter- or impactor-collected aerosol samples is alsomore » described. In this technique, the acidic sample is reacted with an access of a tagged, vapor-phase base. The unreacted base is flushed off and the amount of the tag retained by the sample is a direct measure of the proton acidity of the sample. The base was tagged with Ge, which can be conveniently determined by the x-ray fluorescence technique. « less

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