Simultaneous measurement of multiple organic tracers in fine aerosols from biomass burning and fungal spores by HPLC-MS/MS

Three monosaccharide anhydrides (MAs: levoglucosan, mannosan, and galactosan) and sugar alcohols (arabitol and mannitol) are widely used as organic tracers for source identification of aerosols emitted from biomass burning and fungal spores, respectively. In the past, these two types of organic tracer have been measured separately or conjointly using different analytical techniques, with which a number of disadvantages have been experienced during the application to environmental aerosol samples, including organic solvent involved extraction, time-consuming derivatization, or poor separation efficiency due to overlapping peaks, etc. Hence, in this study a more environment-friendly, effective and integrated extraction and analytical method has been developed for simultaneous determination of the above mentioned organic tracers in the same aerosol sample using ultrasonication and high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). The ultrasonication assisted extraction process using ultrapure water can achieve satisfactory recoveries in the range of 100.3 ± 1.3% to 108.4 ± 1.6% for these tracers. All the parameters related to LC and MS/MS have been optimized to ensure good identification and pronounced intensity for each compound. A series of rigorous validation steps have been conducted. This newly developed analytical method using ultrasonication and HPLC-MS/MS has been successfully applied to environmental aerosol samples of different pollution levels for the simultaneous measurement of the above mentioned five organic tracers from biomass burning and fungal spores.

Five organic tracers in fine aerosols can be simultaneously analysed by coupling ultrasonication and HPLC-MS/MS without a derivatization process.

Minimization of artifacts in sulfuric acid mist measurement using NIOSH Method 7903

NIOSH Method 7903 employs a silica gel tube for sulfuric acid mist measurement in workplaces. However, SO2 gas present in the sample volume can be transformed into sulfate in the sampling process causing an artifact that is reported as sulfuric acid. A sampling train incorporating a honeycomb denuder system was applied for field sampling at seven phosphate fertilizer plants to evaluate its use for reducing the artifact sulfate concentration while preserving the actual sulfuric acid mist concentration. The denuder system was designed to remove SO2 gas before the air entered the silica gel tube and to monitor SO2 concentration at the same time. A deactivation model was also applied to correct for the presence of the artifact. The denuder system had 95.7 +/- 6.8% collection efficiency for SO2 gas, and the impact of sulfate aerosol on SO2 collection was negligible. SO2 concentrations at the seven plants ranged from 34 ppb to 5.6 ppm. The honeycomb denuder system and the deactivation model were shown to reduce the artifact sulfate concentration by 70% and 39%, respectively. However, they were still higher than the sulfate aerosol concentration measured by a cascade impactor. One possible reason is the residual sulfate in the glass fiber filter and the silica gel.