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Evaluation of an automated EA-IRMS method for total carbon analysis of atmospheric aerosol at HEKAL

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Abstract

Comprehensive atmospheric studies have demonstrated that carbonaceous particles are one of the main components of atmospheric aerosols over Europe. The aim of our study was to establish an automated elemental analyser interfaced to a stable isotope mass spectrometer (EA-IRMS) method at the Hertelendi Laboratory of Environmental Studies (HEKAL), as a suitable method of quantification of total carbon mass in individual PM2.5 aerosol samples. Total carbon (TC) mass and simultaneous stable isotopic ratios were determined for both test standard and genuine aerosol samples. Finally, the results were compared to the ones obtained independently by an alternative sealed tube combustion method developed previously at HEKAL. The TC recovery tests of standard material prepared by the sealed tube method confirmed at least a carbon recovery yield of 92% for a broad range of carbon mass (100–2000 μg). The stable isotopic results confirmed that sealed tube method is reproducible and suitable to be used as a reference to verify our new EA-IRMS method. The EA-IRMS TC measurements of genuine aerosols gave on average 3% higher carbon recovery yield, relative to the uncorrected results of the sealed tube method. The comparison of the stable isotopic results by the two methods for aerosols also showed minimal differences. Consequently, the possibility of simultaneous TC and stable isotopic analyses makes the EA-IRMS method a very attractive alternative for continuous measurement of aerosols, with an accuracy and reliability similar to other commercial devices.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the European Union and the State of Hungary, co-financed by the European Social Fund in the framework of TÁMOP 4.2.4.A/2-11-1-2012-0001 ‘National Excellence Program and the project of GINOP-2.3.2.-15-2016-00009 ‘ICER’.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hertelendi Laboratory of Environmental Studies, Isotope Climatology and Environmental Research Centre, Institute of Nuclear Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Bem tér 18/c, Debrecen, H-4026, Hungary

    István Major, Marianna Túri, István Futó, A. J. Timothy Jull & Mihály Molnár

  2. Faculty of Engineering, University of Debrecen, Ótemető út 2-4, Debrecen, H-4028, Hungary

    Brigitta Gyökös

  3. MTA-SZTE Research Group on Photoacoustic Spectroscopy, Dóm tér 9, Szeged, H-6720, Hungary

    Ágnes Filep

  4. Air Chemistry Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Egyetem Street 10, Veszprém, H-8200, Hungary

    András Hoffer

  5. Laboratory of Ion Beam Applications, Institute of Nuclear Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Bem tér 18/c, Debrecen, H-4026, Hungary

    Enikő Furu

  6. Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA

    A. J. Timothy Jull

Authors
  1. István Major
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  2. Brigitta Gyökös
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  3. Marianna Túri
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  4. István Futó
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  5. Ágnes Filep
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  6. András Hoffer
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  7. Enikő Furu
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  8. A. J. Timothy Jull
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  9. Mihály Molnár
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Correspondence to István Major.

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Major, I., Gyökös, B., Túri, M. et al. Evaluation of an automated EA-IRMS method for total carbon analysis of atmospheric aerosol at HEKAL. J Atmos Chem 75, 85–96 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10874-017-9363-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10874-017-9363-y

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