Passive air sampling of flame retardants and plasticizers in Canadian homes using PDMS, XAD-coated PDMS and PUF samplers

Passive air samplers (PAS) were evaluated for measuring indoor concentrations of phthalates, novel brominated flame retardants (N-BFRs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and organophosphate esters (OPEs). Sampling rates were obtained from a 50-day calibration study for two newly introduced PAS, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) or silicone rubber PAS (one with and one without a coating of styrene divinyl benzene co-polymer, XAD) and the commonly used polyurethane foam (PUF) PAS. Average sampling rates normalized to PAS surface area were 1.5 ± 1.1 m³ day^-1 dm^-2 for both unsheltered PDMS and XAD-PDMS, and 0.90 m³ ± 0.6 day^-1dm^-2 for partially sheltered PUF. These values were derived based on the compound-specific sampling rates measured here and in the literature for the PAS tested, to reasonably account for site-specific variability of sampling rates. PDMS and PUF were co-deployed for three weeks in 51 homes located in Ottawa and Toronto, Canada. Duplicate PUF and PDMS samplers gave concentrations within 10% of each other. PDMS and PUF-derived air concentrations were not statistically different for gas-phase compounds. PUF had a higher detection of particle-phase compounds such as some OPEs. Phthalate and OPE air concentrations were ∼100 times higher than those of N-BFRs and PBDEs. Concentrations were not systematically related to PM₁₀, temperature or relative humidity. We conclude that both PAS provide replicable estimates of indoor concentrations of these targeted semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) over a three-week deployment period. However, PUF is advantageous for collecting a wider range of compounds including those in the particle phase.

Source apportionment of settleable particles in an impacted urban and industrialized region in Brazil

Settleable particulate matter (SPM), especially coarser particles with diameters greater than 10 μm, has been found culprit of high deposition rates in cities affected by hinterland industrial activities. This is the case of Metropolitan Region of Vitoria (MRV), Espirito Santo, Brazil where industrial facilities are located within the urban sprawl and building constructions are intense. Frequent population complaints to the environmental protection agency (IEMA) throughout the years have triggered monitoring campaigns to determine SPM deposition rates and source apportionment. Eight different locations were monitored throughout the MRV, and SPM was quantified and chemically characterized. Sources profiles were defined either by using US EPA SPECIATE data or by experimental analysis. Atmospheric fallout in the MRV ranged between 2 and 20g/(m² 30-day), with only one monitoring station ranging from 6-10 g/(m² 30-day). EC, OC, Fe, Al, and Si were found the main constituents of dry deposition in the region. Source apportionment by the chemical mass balance (CMB) model determined that steel and iron ore pelletizing industries were the main contributor to one of the eight locations whereas resuspension, civil construction, and vehicular sources were also very important contributors to the other stations. Quarries and soil were also considered expressive SPM sources, but at the city periphery. CMB model could differentiate contributions from six industrial source groups: thermoelectric; iron ore, pellet, and pellet furnaces; coal coke and coke oven; sintering, blast furnace, and basic oxygen furnace; and soil, resuspension, and vehicles. However, the CMB model was unable to differentiate between iron ore and pellet stockpiles which are present in both steel and iron ore pelletizing industries. Further characterization of source and SPM might be necessary to aid local authorities in decision-making regarding these two industrial sources.

Air quality measurements-From rubber bands to tapping the rainbow

It is axiomatic that good measurements are integral to good public policy for environmental protection. The generalized term for "measurements" includes sampling and quantitation, data integrity, documentation, network design, sponsorship, operations, archiving, and accessing for applications. Each of these components has evolved and advanced over the last 200 years as knowledge of atmospheric chemistry and physics has matured. Air quality was first detected by what people could see and smell in contaminated air. Gaseous pollutants were found to react with certain materials or chemicals, changing the color of dissolved reagents such that their light absorption at selected wavelengths could be related to both the pollutant chemistry and its concentration. Airborne particles have challenged the development of a variety of sensory devices and laboratory assays for characterization of their enormous range of physical and chemical properties. Advanced electronics made possible the sampling, concentration, and detection of gases and particles, both in situ and in laboratory analysis of collected samples. Accurate and precise measurements by these methods have made possible advanced air quality management practices that led to decreasing concentrations over time. New technologies are leading to smaller and cheaper measurement systems that can further expand and enhance current air pollution monitoring networks.

IMPLICATIONS

Ambient air quality measurement systems have a large influence on air quality management by determining compliance, tracking trends, elucidating pollutant transport and transformation, and relating concentrations to adverse effects. These systems consist of more than just instrumentation, and involve extensive support efforts for siting, maintenance, calibration, auditing, data validation, data management and access, and data interpretation. These requirements have largely been attained for criteria pollutants regulated by National Ambient Air Quality Standards, but they are rarely attained for nonroutine measurements and research studies.

Dry deposition velocity of total suspended particles and meteorological influence in four locations in Guangzhou, China

Dry deposition velocity of total suspended particles (TSP) is an effective parameter that describes the speed of atmospheric particulate matter deposit to the natural surface. It is also an important indicator to the capacity of atmosphere self-depuration. However, the spatial and temporal variations in dry deposition velocity of TSP at different urban landscapes and the relationship between dry deposition velocity and the meteorological parameters are subject to large uncertainties. We concurrently investigated this relationship at four different landscapes of Guangzhou, from October to December of 2009. The result of the average dry deposition velocity is (1.49 +/- 0.77), (1.44 +/- 0.77), (1.13 +/- 0.53) and (1.82 +/- 0.82) cm/sec for urban commercial landscape, urban forest landscape, urban residential landscape and country landscape, respectively. This spatial variation can be explained by the difference of both particle size composition of TSP and meteorological parameters of sampling sites. Dry deposition velocity of TSP has a positive correlation with wind speed, and a negative correlation with temperature and relative humidity. Wind speed is the strongest factor that affects the magnitude of TSP dry deposition velocity, and the temperature is another considerable strong meteorological factor. We also find out that the relative humidity brings less impact, especially during the dry season. It is thus implied that the current global warming and urban heat island effect may lead to correlative changes in TSP dry deposition velocity, especially in the urban areas.

An evaluation of direct measurement techniques for mercury dry deposition

In this project, several surrogate surfaces designed to directly measure Hg dry deposition were investigated. Static water surrogate surfaces (SWSS) containing deionized (DI), acidified water, or salt solutions, and a knife-edge surrogate surface (KSS) using quartz fiber filters (QFF), KCl-coated QFF and gold-coated QFF were evaluated as a means to directly measure mercury (Hg) dry deposition. The SWSS was hypothesized to collect deposited elemental mercury (Hg⁰), reactive gaseous/oxidized mercury (RGM), and mercury associated with particulate matter (Hg(p)) while the QFF, KCl-coated QFF, and gold-coated QFF on the KSS were hypothesized to collect Hg(p), RGM+Hg(p), and Hg⁰+RGM+Hg(p), respectively. The Hg flux measured by the DI water was significantly smaller than that captured by the acidified water, probably because Hg⁰ was oxidized to Hg²+ which stabilized the deposited Hg and decreased mass transfer resistance. Acidified BrCl, which efficiently oxidizes Hg⁰, captured significantly more Hg than other solutions. However, of all collection media, gold-coated QFFs captured 6 to 100 times greater Hg mass than the other surfaces, probably because there is no surface resistance for Hg⁰ deposition to gold surfaces. In addition, the Hg⁰ concentration is usually 100-1000 times higher than RGM and Hg(p). For all other media, co-located samples were not significantly different, and the combination of daytime plus nighttime results were comparable to 24-h samples, implying that Hg⁰, RGM and Hg(p) were not released after they deposited nor did the surfaces reach equilibrium with the atmosphere. Based on measured Hg ambient air concentrations and fluxes, dry deposition velocities of RGM and Hg⁰ to DI water and other surfaces were 5.6±5.4 and 0.005-0.68 cm s⁻¹ in this study, respectively. These results suggest surrogate surfaces can be used to measure Hg dry deposition; however, extrapolating the results to natural surface can be challenging.

Measurement and modeling of concentrations of ambient air particles, chromium, copper and lead pollutants concentrations, as well as dry deposition in central Taiwan

The main purpose of this investigation was to monitor ambient air particles and metallic elements (Cr, Cu and Pb) in total suspended particulates (TSP) concentration, dry deposition. Furthermore, the calculated/measured dry deposition flux ratios of ambient air particles and metallic elements (Cr, Cu and Pb) were evaluated using three dry deposition models at five characteristic sampling sites for the 2009-2010. The results show that the average concentrations of metallic elements Cr, Cu and Pb in TSP were highest at Bei-shi (suburban/coastal) and the lowest at Gao-mei (wetland) among the five characteristic sampling sites during the years 2009-2010. This study also shows that the mean rates of dry deposition of metallic elements Cr and Cu were highest at Quan-xing (industrial) and lowest at Bei-shi (suburban/coastal) and Chang-hua (downtown). Finally, the Noll and Fang model was found to yield better predictions of the dry deposition of ambient air particles and metallic elements Cr and Cu than any of the other deposition models.

Atmospheric mercury in Changbai Mountain area, northeastern China II. The distribution of reactive gaseous mercury and particulate mercury and mercury deposition fluxes

Reactive gaseous mercury (RGM) and particulate mercury (Hgp) concentrations in ambient air from a remote site at Changbai Mountain area in northeastern China were intermittently monitored from August 2005 to July 2006 totaling 93 days representing fall, winter-spring and summer season, respectively. Rainwater and snow samples were collected during a whole year, and total mercury (THg) in rain samples were used to calculate wet depositional flux. A throughfall method and a model method were used to estimate dry depositional flux. Results showed mean concentrations of RGM and Hgp are 65 and 77 pg m(-3). Compared to background concentrations of atmospheric mercury species in Northern Hemisphere, RGM and Hgp are significantly elevated in Changbai area. Large values for standard deviation indicated fast reactivity and a low residence time for these mercury species. Seasonal variability is also important, with lower mercury levels in summer compared to other seasons, which is attributed to scavenging by rainfall and low local mercury emissions in summer. THg concentrations ranged from 11.5 to 15.9 ng L(-1) in rainwater samples and 14.9-18.6 ng L(-1) in throughfall samples. Wet depositional flux in Changbai area is calculated to be 8.4 microg m(-2) a(-1), and dry deposition flux is estimated to be 16.5 microg m(-2) a(-1) according to a throughfall method and 20.2 microg m(-2) a(-1) using a model method.

Dry deposition study by using dry deposition plate and water surface sampler in Shalu, central Taiwan

This study presents the chemical composition of dry deposition by using dry deposition plate and water surfaces sampler during daytime and nighttime sampling periods at a near highway traffic sampling site. In addition, the characterization for mass and water soluble species of total suspended particulate (TSP), PM2.5 and PM10 were also studied at this sampling site during August 22 to October 31 of 2006 around central Taiwan. The samples collected were analyzed by using Ion Chromatography (DIONEX 100) for the ionic species analysis. Results of the particulate dry deposition fluxes are higher in the water surfaces sampler than that of the dry deposition plate. In other words, the results also indicated that water surface can absorb more ambient dry deposition inorganic pollutants than that of dry deposition plate in this study. The results obtained in this study indicated that the ionic species of Cl(-), NO3(-) and SO4(2-) occupied about average 60-70% downward flux out of total ionic species for either dry deposition plate or water surfaces sampler during August to October of 2006 at this near highway traffic sampling site.

Ambient air particulate concentrations and metallic elements principal component analysis at Taichung Harbor (TH) and WuChi Traffic (WT) near Taiwan Strait during 2004-2005

The purpose of this study is to characterize metallic elements associated with atmospheric particulate matter of total suspended particulate (TSP), fine particle (particle matter with aerodynamical diameter <2.5 microm, PM(2.5)), coarse particle (particle matter with aerodynamical diameter 2.5-10 microm, PM (2.5-10)) at the Taichung Harbor (TH) and WuChi Traffic (WT) sampling site of central Taiwan during March 2004 to February 2005. The result indicated the average total suspended particulate concentration in 1 year was 157.31 and 112.58 microg m(-3) at TH and WT sampling site, respectively. Fine particle (PM(2.5)) size was the dominant species at TH and WT sampling site. In TH sampling site, higher correlation coefficient was observed on total suspended particulates of metallic elements Fe and Zn. And in WT sampling site, higher correlation coefficients displayed on total suspended particulates of metallic elements Fe and Zn, Fe and Mn. Ambient airborne particle principal component analysis of metallic metals was used to identify the possible pollutant sources in this study. At the TH sampling site, 50.81% of the total variance of the data was observed in factor 1. Higher loading of Fe (0.86), Zn (0.79), Pb (0.76), and Mn (0.68) were contributed by traffic emission and the soil source. At the WT sampling site, factor 1 explained 53.74% of the total variance of the data and had high loading for Zn (0.86) and Cu (0.85), which were identified as industrial/traffic emission sources.

Gas-phase deposition of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) to a water surface sampler

In this study a water surface sampler (WSS) was utilized to directly measure gas phase deposition of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The measured gas phase PCB fluxes averaged about 880 +/- 660 ngm(-2)d(-1), which was higher than the fluxes calculated using simultaneously measured air and water concentrations for natural surface waters. These large fluxes were due to fact that the measured fluxes were only in the absorption direction since deposited PCBs were continuously removed from the system using an XAD column resulting in the maximum possible flux rate from the air to the WSS water. Ambient air PCBs were also sampled simultaneously with a modified high volume sampler. The gas phase PCB concentrations changed between 0.90 and 4.46 ngm(-3) (2.18 +/- 1.16 ngm(-3)). The mass transfer coefficients (MTCs), calculated by dividing the fluxes by the gas phase concentrations was 0.40 +/- 0.36 cms(-1). The average MTC was comparable with those calculated using a similar configuration of a WSS.

Atmospheric dry deposition to leaf surfaces at a rural site of India

Dry deposition flux of major ions (Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, NH4+, F-, Cl-, NO3- and SO4(2-) to natural surfaces [guava (Psidium guyava) and peepal (Ficus religiosa) leaves] are determined at Rampur, a rural site of semi-arid region of India. Dry deposition flux is the highest for Ca2+ on guava leaves and for NH4+ on peepal leaves. Overall dry deposition flux is higher on guava leaves than of peepal leaves. The variation in deposition flux may be due to surface characteristics (surface roughness) and arrangement of leaves. Peepal leaves are arranged along the axis of the stem, whereas guava leaves are at right angles to the stem. The deposition flux of cations contributes 66% and 76% of dry deposition of all major ions on guava and peepal leaves, respectively as soil is major contributor towards dry deposition flux in tropical regions. ANOVA revealed no significant seasonal difference in deposition, although there is a trend for higher in winter. Deposition velocities of NH4+, NO3- and SO4(2-) are greater on guava leaves than peepal leaves, which can be attributed to the rougher surface of the guava leaf.

Dry deposition of sulfate-containing particulate at the highway intersection, coastal and suburban areas

Sulfate-containing aerosol (SCA) dry deposition at the highway intersection, coastal location, and suburban area in Taiwan were analyzed and compared. Sampling was accomplished with a surrogate surface technique. Samples particles were coated with barium chloride (BaCl(2)) in a vacuum evaporator and then exposed to a relative humidity of 85% for 2 h to form distinctive products of SCAs. Treated samples were examined by a scanning electron microscopy. SCA dry deposition fluxes were 10.2, 4.1, 3.4 microgm(-2)s(-1) and nonsulfate-containing aerosol (NSCA) dry deposition fluxes were 23.3, 8.2, 13.5 microgm(-2)s(-1) at the highway intersection, coastal, and suburban areas. At the highway intersection, both SCA and NSCA dry deposition fluxes were much higher than those at the other two sites. The dry deposition of particles was also analyzed with a traditional technique. The number median diameters (NMDs) of SCA were 0.41, 0.82, and 1.2 mum at the highway intersection, coastal, and suburban sites, respectively. The highway intersection site had a small NMD, which showed that most sulfate-containing deposited aerosols existed in fine diameter range. The mass median diameters (MMDs) of SCA were 8.8, 19.5, and 14.9 mum at the highway intersection, coastal, and suburban sites, which were much higher than NMDs. Average numbers of SCAs in total particulate were 33%, 33%, and 22% at the highway intersection, coastal and suburban areas Most deposited particulates were nonsulfate-containing at the three sampling sites. SCAs less than 10 mum contributed 29%, 8%, and 7% to the total dry deposition at the highway intersection, coastal, and suburban areas, respectively. The contribution of fine particulate was significantly higher at the highway intersection site.

Atmospheric particulate mercury concentration and its dry deposition flux in Changchun City, China

From July 1999 to January 2000, we determined the particulate mercury [Hg(p)] concentration in the atmosphere of five function sites and one contrast site in the city of Changchun, China. During non-heating season, the Hg(p) concentration in air in urban areas ranged from 0.022 to 0.398 ng m(-3) with an average of 0.145 ng m(-3), and at the contrast site with an average of 0.084 ng m(-3). During the heating season, the Hg(p) concentration in urban areas was in the range of 0.148-1.984 ng m(-3) with an average of 0.461 ng m(-3) and with an average of 0.211 ng m(-3) at the contrast site. The Hg(p) concentration during heating season is two times higher than that during non-heating time. Coal burning and wind-blown soil material are the two important sources of Hg(p). Wind-blown soil material contributes 7.9-38.5% to the Hg(p) with an average of 24.1% in urban area. A theoretical model was used to estimate the dry deposition flux, with results of 43.06 microg m(-2) a(-1) in the urban area and 21.28 microg m(-2) a(-1) at the contrast site.

Atmospheric Deposition and Canopy Interactions of Major Ions in a Forest

Airborne particles and vapors contributed significantly to the nutrient requirements and the pollutant load of a mixed hardwood forest in the eastern United States. Dry deposition was an important mechanism of atmospheric input to the foliar canopy, occurring primarily by vapor uptake for sulfur, nitrogen, and free acidity and by particle deposition for calcium and potassium. The canopy retained 50 to 70 percent of the deposited free acidity and nitrogen, but released calcium and potassium. Atmospheric deposition supplied 40 and 100 percent of the nitrogen and sulfur requirements, respectively, for the annual woody increment. This contribution was underestimated significantly by standard bulk deposition collectors.