Abstract
The accurate measurement of concentration is the basis for determining emission sources and sinks of nitrous oxide (N2O). The detection of N2O showed that the presence of carbon dioxide (CO2) biased the N2O response when pure nitrogen (N2) was used as a carrier gas for gas chromatography (GC) equipped with an electron capture detector (GC-ECD). In this study, laboratory experiments were carried out to explore how the presence of CO2 interferes with the accurate determination of N2O. The aims were to address the extent of the influence to try and explain the underlying mechanism, and to uncover technical options for solving the problem. Three GC carrier gases are discussed: pure nitrogen (DN); a mixture of argon and methane (AM); and a high concentration CO2, which was introduced into the ECD cell with a low flow rate based on DN (DN-CO2). The results show that when DN was used, the existence of CO2 in the ECD cell greatly enhanced the response of N2O, which increased with CO2 content and remained constant when the content reached a limit. Comparisons between the three methods show that the DN method is defective for the accurate determination of N2O. The bias is caused by different electron capture mechanisms of CO2 and N2O and depends heavily on the detector temperature. New GC carrier gas types with make-up gases that can remove the CO2-induced influence, such as the DN-CO2 and DN-CH4 methods reported in this paper, are recommended for the accurate measurement of N2O.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akimoto, F., and Coauthors, 2005: Cross-correlation analysis of atmospheric trace concentrations of N2O, CH4 and CO2 determined by continuous gas-chromatographic monitoring. Energy, 30, 299–311.
Arah, J. R. M., I. J. Crichton, K. A. Smith, H. Clayton, and H. Skiba, 1994: Automated gas chromatographic analysis system for micrometeorological measurements of trace gas fluxes. J. Geophys. Res., 99, 16593–16598.
Butterbach-Bahl, K., M. Kock, G. Willibald, B. Hewett, S. Bhuhagiar, H. Papen, and R. Kiese, 2004: Temporal variations of fluxes of NO, NO2, N2O, CO2 and CH4 in a tropical rain forest ecosystem. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 18, GB3012, doi: 10.1029/2004GB002243.
Da, S. L., 1999: Introduction to Chromatography. Wuhan University Press, 497pp. (in Chinese)
De Klein, C. A. M., P. McTaggart, K. A. Smith, R. J. Stevens, R. Harrison, and R. J. Laughlin, 1999: Measurement of nitrous oxide emissions from grassland soil using photo-acoustic infra-red spectroscopy, long-path infra-red spectroscopy, gas chromatography, and continuous flow isotope-ratio mass spectrometry. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis, 30, 1463–1477.
Edwards, G. C., G. W. Thurtell, G. E. Kidd, G. M. Dias, and C. Wagner-Riddle, 2003: A diode laser based gas monitor suitable for measurement of trace gas exchange using micrometeorological techniques. Agriculture and Forestry Meteorology, 115, 71–89.
Forster, P., V. Ramaswamy, P. Artaxo, T. Berntsen, R. Betts, and D. W. Fahey, 2007: Changes in atmospheric constituents and radiative forcing. Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fouth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Solomon et al., Eds., Cambridge University Press, 132–146.
Hadi, A, K. Inubushi, E. Purnomo, E. Razie, K. Yamakawa, and H. Tsuruta, 2000: Effect of land-use changes on nitrous oxide emission from tropical peatlands. Chemosphere-Global Change Science, 2, 347–358.
Hashmonay, R. A., D. F. Natschke, K. Wagoner, D. B. Harris, E. L. Thompson, and M. G. Yost, 2001: Field evaluation of a method for estimating gaseous fluxes from area sources using open path Fourier transform infrared. Environmental Science and Technology, 35, 2309–2313.
Loftfield, N., H. Flessa, F. Beese, and J. Augustin, 1997: Automated gas chromatographic system for rapid analysis of the atmospheric trace gases methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide. Jounal of Environmental Quality, 26, 560–564
Maggs, R. J., P. L. Joynes, A. J. Davies, and J. E. Lovelock, 1966: The electron capture detector-A new mode of operation. Analytical Chemistry, 43, 1966–1971
Mosier, A. R., and L. Mack, 1980: Gas chromatographic system for precise, rapid analysis of nitrous oxide. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 44, 1121–1123.
Pattey, E., I. B. Strachan, R. L. Desjardins, G. C. Edwards, D. Dow, and J. I. MacPherson, 2006: Application of a tunable diode laser to the measurement of CH4 and N2O fluxes from field to landscape scale using several micrometeorological techniques. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 136, 222–236.
Phillips, F. A., R. Leuning, R. Baigent, K. B. Kelly, and O. T. Denmead, 2007: Nitrous oxide flux measurements from an intensively managed irrigated pasture using micrometeorological techniques. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 143, 92–105.
Ševčík, J., 1977: Nitrogen-n-Pentane mixture as a purging gas for electron capture detectors. Chromatographia, 10, 601–60
Wang, Y. S., and Y. H. Wang, 2003: Quick measurement of CH4, CO2 and N2O emissions from a short-plant ecosystem. Adv. Atmos. Sci., 20, 842–844.
Wentworth, W. E., and R. R. Freeman, 1973: Measurement of atmospheric nitrous oxide using an electron capture detector in conjunction with gas chromatography. Journal of Chromatography, 79, 322–324.
Zheng, X. H., and Coauthors, 2008: Quantification of N2O fluxes from soil-plant systems may be biased by the applied gas chromatograph methodology. Plant soil, 311, 211–234.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wang, Y., Wang, Y. & Ling, H. A new carrier gas type for accurate measurement of N2O by GC-ECD. Adv. Atmos. Sci. 27, 1322–1330 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-010-9212-2
Received:
Revised:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-010-9212-2