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Enhanced Ion Chromatographic Speciation of Water-Soluble PM\(_{2.5}\) to Improve Aerosol Source Apportionment

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Abstract

Ion chromatography (IC) is widely used to quantify sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, sodium, chloride, and potassium from PM\(_{2.5}\) water extracts. IC hardware and software have progressed to allow a broader range of water-soluble compounds to be determined for the existing anion and cation programs and on the same solutions using analytical column, eluent, and detector modifications. Alkylamine, organic acid, and carbohydrate quantification by IC expands the number of source markers, especially for different types of biomass burning and secondary organic aerosols. Although modern systems are highly automated, internal quality control (QC) and external quality assurance (QA) programs are essential. QC includes detailed standard operating procedures, calibration over the range of expected concentrations, performance tests with independent standards, inspection of filters and chromatograms, and anion/cation balances. QA consists of independent system and performance audits, analysis of externally prepared performance samples, and interlaboratory comparisons. The additional water-soluble species provide compounds for speciated emission inventories, source markers to refine aerosol source apportionment, and increased understanding of global carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen cycles.

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Acknowledgements

This research is funded in part by the US National Science Foundation (CHE-1214163 and CHE-1464501) and the US EPA PM\(_{2.5}\) Chemical Speciation Network (CSN) Laboratory Analysis Program (EP-D-15-0250). The authors would like to thank Mr. Patrick Hurbain, Dr. Guenter Engling (now with California Air Resources Board), Dr. Paul Cropper, and Mr. Steve Kohl for technical input and laboratory analyses and Ms. Katherine Greenblatt of the Desert Research Institute (DRI) for assembling and editing the manuscript.

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  1. Division of Atmospheric Sciences, Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV, 89512, USA

    Judith C. Chow & John G. Watson

  2. Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an, 710061, Shaanxi, China

    Judith C. Chow & John G. Watson

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Correspondence to Judith C. Chow.

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Chow, J.C., Watson, J.G. Enhanced Ion Chromatographic Speciation of Water-Soluble PM\(_{2.5}\) to Improve Aerosol Source Apportionment. Aerosol Sci Eng 1, 7–24 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41810-017-0002-4

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