Author : Erika Zardin
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (93 download)
Book Synopsis Long-term Monitoring of Trace Volatile Organic Compounds in Ambient Air of Western Australia by Proton Transfer Reaction-mass Spectrometry (PTR-MS) by : Erika Zardin
Download or read book Long-term Monitoring of Trace Volatile Organic Compounds in Ambient Air of Western Australia by Proton Transfer Reaction-mass Spectrometry (PTR-MS) written by Erika Zardin and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: [Truncated abstract] Volatile organic compounds (VOC) are a class of reactive trace species ubiquitous within the Earth's lower atmosphere, being emitted from anthropogenic and biogenic sources both locally and globally. VOC are involved in numerous documented atmospheric issues, including photochemical production of ozone and formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) in the troposphere. Measuring of VOC concentration and speciation under ambient conditions is pivotal for producing informed environmental and health guidelines, for defining emissions controls strategies, to assess ecosystems response, and ultimately to advance scientific understanding of the atmosphere. This thesis describes the monitoring of VOC concentrations in real time (on-line) and for long-term (several months across three years) in ambient air of two representative locations of Western Australia: the central business district of Perth the State capital city and the rural village of Yarloop, in the proximity of an isolated alumina refinery about 100 km south of Perth. The ambient levels (ppb) of tens of VOC where monitored by means of Proton Transfer Reaction-Mass Spectrometry (PTR-MS). This chemical ionization mass spectrometric technique allows for highly time-resolved VOC concentration measurements, however, with the disadvantage of providing chemical identity cues limited to the molecular weight of the compound. To partly address this shortcoming, parallel VOC measurements were performed by means of the US EPA toxic organic compound measurements protocols (US EPA TO). These off-line methods provide detailed chemical identity of a several VOC, although with limited temporal resolution. A suite of trace gases relevant to air quality and an array of meteorological parameters have been monitored along with PTR-MS in both the urban and the rural/industrial sites and the datasets merged. The vast multivariate dataset of air quality, meteorology and VOC data has been broadly interpreted within the scope of this work. The data analysis performed ranged from identification of PTR-MS "masses of interest" and attribution to atmospheric VOC, to calculation and summary of seasonal concentration statistics, reconstruction of dial concentration cycles, regression and multivariate statistical analyses with the parallel air quality and meteorological information...