Abstract
In spite of accounting for 10-70% of the atmospheric aerosol mass, particulate-phase organic compounds are not well characterised, and many aspects of aerosol formation and evolution are still unknown. The growing awareness of the impact of particulate aerosols on climate, and the incompletely recognised but serious effects of anthropogenic constituents on air quality and human health, have conducted to several scientific studies. These investigations have provided information about the behaviour of atmospheric particulate matter and the description of the character of its carbonaceous content. The compilation of such results is important as they append to the emergent global-wide dataset of the organic composition of atmospheric aerosols. The contribution of the major emission sources to regional particulate pollution can be diagnosed by using specific molecular markers. This overview is mainly focused on results obtained with gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, since it is the analytical method of choice in elucidating the solvent-extractable organic compounds in atmospheric particulate matter. A synopsis of the selection of organic tracers and the application of geochemical parameters to the analysis of organic constituents as a tool for source apportionment is shown here. Besides the assessment of current knowledge, this paper also presents the identification of further areas of concern.
Highlights
Aerosols are mixtures of solid and liquid droplets of material that vary in size and origin
The carbonaceous aerosol is formed by a complex mixture of organic compounds, normally referred as organic carbon (OC), and a mass of carbon atoms with a graphitic-like structure that is black in colour and is normally named as soot, black carbon or elemental carbon (BC or EC)
Identified organic compounds in aerosol typically account for 10% or less of the mass of total OC measured by thermal analysis, this percentage could reach values above 60%, when more complex extraction methodologies and detection techniques are used (Alves et al 2002, 2006, Carvalho et al 2003, Decesari et al 2000, Feng et al 2007)
Summary
Aerosols are mixtures of solid and liquid droplets of material that vary in size and origin. Identified organic compounds in aerosol typically account for 10% or less of the mass of total OC measured by thermal analysis, this percentage could reach values above 60%, when more complex extraction methodologies and detection techniques are used (Alves et al 2002, 2006, Carvalho et al 2003, Decesari et al 2000, Feng et al 2007). Thermal desorption particle beam mass spectrometry has been lately developed and employed for identification of secondary organic aerosol constituents produced in environmental chambers (Tobias and Ziemann 2000) In this method, a number of particles are trapped on a cold step and gradually heated, to separate compounds depending on their volatility. I – Santiago of Chile (Kavouras et al 1999a); II – Birmingham, UK (Smith and Harrison 1996); III – Munich, Germany (Schnelle–Kreis et al 2001); IV – Hong Kong, China (Zheng et al 1997); V – Pavia, Italy (Minoia et al 1997); VI – London, UK (Brown et al 1996); VII – Portland, USA (Ligocki and Pankow 1989); VIII – Moe, Australia (Lyall et al 1988); IX – Tokyo, Japan (Okuda et al 2000); X – Temuco, Chile (Tsapakis et al 2002); XI – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Omar et al 2002); XII – Fuji, Japan (Ohura et al 2004); XIII – Shimizu, Japan (Ohura et al 2004); XIV – Lahore, Pakistan (Smith et al 1996); XV – São Paulo, Brazil (Martinis et al 2002); XVI – Bravo Murillo, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain (Cancio et al 2004); XVI –industrial park in Taichung, Taiwan (Fang et al 2004); XVII – roadside, Hong Kong (Ho et al 2002); XVIII – Seoul, Korea (Park et al 2002); XIX – Athens, Greece (Mandalakis et al 2002)
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