Abstract
A novel method for assessing the effect of degradation by atmospheric species on measured annual average benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) concentrations is presented. The method is based on assessing the difference in measured BaP mass concentrations using different sampling periods and extrapolation using assumed pseudo-first order reaction rate kinetics to produce the expected BaP mass concentration when theoretical sampling periods of zero duration are used – during which no degradation would be observed. The results suggest that the use of a one day sampling period as specified by the required reference method for BaP assessment in the UK may result in an underestimation of the annual average BaP mass concentration by approximately 6%. This is relatively small compared to the overall uncertainty of the measurement.
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