Dongbin Wang

Development and Evaluation of a High-Volume Aerosol-into-Liquid Collector for Fine and Ultrafine Particulate Matter

This study presents a novel high-volume aerosol-into-liquid collector, developed to provide concentrated slurries of fine and/or ultrafine particulate matter (PM) to be used for unattended, in situ measurements of PM chemistry and toxicity. This system operates at 200 liters per minute (L/min) flow and utilizes the saturation–condensation, particle-to-droplet growth component of the versatile aerosol concentration enrichment system (VACES), growing fine or ultrafine PM to 3–4-μm droplets, in conjunction with a newly designed impactor, in which grown particles are collected gradually forming highly concentrated slurries. Laboratory evaluation results indicated an excellent overall system collection efficiency (over 90%) for both monodisperse and polydisperse particles in the range of 0.01 to 2 μm. Field evaluations illustrated that overall a very good agreement was obtained for most PM2.5 species between the new aerosol collection system and the VACES/BioSampler tandem as well as filter samplers operating in parallel. Very good agreement between the new system and the VACES/BioSampler was also observed for reactive oxygen species (ROS) in ambient PM2.5 samples, whereas lower ROS values were obtained from the water extracts of the filter, likely due to incomplete extraction of water insoluble redox active species collected on the filter substrate. Moreover, the field tests indicated that the new aerosol collection system could achieve continuous and unattended collection of concentrated suspensions for at least 2 to 3 days without any obvious shortcomings in its operation. Both laboratory and field evaluations of the high-volume aerosol-into-liquid collector suggest that this system is an effective technology for collection and characterization of ambient aerosols. Copyright 2013 American Association for Aerosol Research

Development and evaluation of a novel monitor for online measurement of iron, manganese, and chromium in ambient particulate matter (PM)

A prototype atmospheric aerosol monitor was developed for online measurement of three toxicologically relevant redox-active metals (Fe, Mn, and Cr) in ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5). The monitor has the unique ability to quantify these metals in specific chemical oxidation states in addition to both their total and water-soluble fractions in the ambient PM2.5. This information is critical for advancing our understanding of mechanisms of PM-induced toxicity as well as chemical processing of aerosol in the atmosphere. The metal monitor utilizes a high flow rate aerosol-into-liquid collector to collect ambient PM2.5 directly as concentrated aqueous slurry samples. The concentrations of target metals in the collected slurries are subsequently measured in a aerosol-into-liquid collector, micro volume flow cell (MVFC) using spectrophotometry to quantify the light absorption of colored complexes resulting from the reaction between the target metals and added analytical reagents. Our experimental evaluation indicated that, overall, this novel monitor can achieve accurate and reliable measurements over long sampling periods (i.e. at least several weeks). The online measurements for all three target elements were in good agreement (i.e., with slopes of the linear regression lines ranging between 0.90 and 1.07, and R(2) values between 0.76 and 0.95) with time-integrated filter samples collected in parallel and analyzed by magnetic sector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SF-ICPMS). Moreover, this metal monitor can provide semi-continuous measurements (i.e., every 2h) for at least 5 consecutive days without obvious shortcomings in its field operation. The online monitor measured total concentrations of Fe that ranged between 4.8 and 65.6ng/m(3), for Mn from below detection limit to 10.0ng/m(3), and for Cr from below detection limit to 6.6ng/m(3), respectively. Our results indicate that the developed metal monitor is a promising technology for online measurement and chemical speciation of important redox-active metals in ambient PM2.5.

Development of a Technology for Online Measurement of Total and Water-Soluble Copper (Cu) in PM2.5

A novel monitor for online, in situ measurement of copper (Cu) in ambient fine and ultrafine particulate matter (PM) was developed based on a recent published high flow rate aerosol-into-liquid collector. This aerosol-into-liquid collector operates at 200 L/min flow and collects particles directly as highly concentrated slurry samples. The Cu concentration in slurry samples is subsequently determined by a cupric ion selective electrode (ISE). Laboratory tests were conducted to evaluate the performance of the cupric ISE. The calibration curve of the cupric ISE was determined using Cu(NO3)2 standard solutions prepared by serial dilution. As part of the evaluation, the effects of ionic strength, temperature and pH of the aerosol slurry sample on the cupric ISE measurement were also evaluated. The Cu measurement system performance was evaluated by collecting and measuring samples of lab-generated Cu(NO3)2 aerosols with known mass concentration. Overall, very good agreement between the theoretical and measured Cu concentrations was obtained, corroborating the excellent high overall collection efficiency and measurement accuracy of the Cu measurement system. Field evaluations of the online Cu monitor demonstrated very good agreement for total and water-soluble Cu concentrations with measurements performed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), suggesting that interferences from other components of particulate matter are minimal under real world sampling conditions. Moreover, the field tests indicated that the new online Cu monitor could achieve near-continuous collection and measurements (at 2–4 h intervals) for at least 4 to 7 days without any obvious shortcomings in its operation. Both laboratory and field evaluations of the online Cu monitor indicate that it is an effective and valuable technology for PM collection and characterization of Cu in ambient aerosols and provides the foundation for the wider use of ISE for metal analysis and speciation of aerosols. Copyright 2014 American Association for Aerosol Research

Development and field evaluation of an online monitor for near-continuous measurement of iron, manganese, and chromium in coarse airborne particulate matter (PM)

ABSTRACT A novel air sampling monitor was developed for near-continuous (i.e., 2-h time resolution) measurement of iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), and chromium (Cr) concentrations in ambient coarse particulate matter (PM) (i.e., PM10–2.5). The developed monitor consists of two modules: (1) the coarse PM collection module, utilizing two virtual impactors (VIs) connected to a modified BioSampler to collect ambient coarse PM into aqueous slurry samples; (2) the metal concentration measurement module, which quantifies the light absorption of colored complexes formed through the reactions between the soluble and solubilized target metals and pertinent analytical reagents in the collected slurries using a micro volume flow cell (MVFC) coupled with UV/VIS spectrophotometry. The developed monitor was deployed in the field for continuous ambient PM collection and measurements from January to April 2016 to evaluate its performance and reliability. Overall, the developed monitor could achieve accurate and reliable measurements of the trace metals Fe, Mn, and Cr over long sampling periods, based on the agreement between the metal concentrations measured via this online monitor and off-line parallel measurements obtained using filter samplers. Based on our results, it can be concluded that the developed monitor is a promising technology for near-continuous measurements of metal concentrations in ambient coarse PM. Moreover, this monitor can be readily configured to measure the speciation (i.e., water-soluble portion as well as specific oxidation states) of these metal species. These unique abilities are essential tools in investigations of sources and atmospheric processes influencing the concentrations of these redox-active metals in coarse PM. Copyright

Development of a Two-Stage Virtual Impactor System for High Concentration Enrichment of Ultrafine, PM2.5, and Coarse Particulate Matter

A two-stage particle concentration enrichment system was developed to provide highly concentrated particles at low flow rates, for applications in areas such as toxicity studies of particulate matter (PM) as well as for increasing the signal-to-noise ratio in online particle sampling instruments. The current system is an extension of the Versatile Aerosol Concentration Enrichment System (VACES) developed at University of Southern California and operates by placing a second-stage miniature virtual impactor (VI) downstream of the VACES. Particles are sequentially enriched through each stage. Laboratory evaluations were conducted using various types of polydisperse particles to simulate typical ambient PM components as well as monodisperse polystyrene latex (PSL) particles. The systems configuration was tested by adjusting the intermediate flow rate, which is the intake flow of the second-stage VI (or minor flow of the first-stage VIs), for which 15 L/min was determined to be optimal in terms of maximizing the overall concentration enrichment. Particle size distributions before and after concentration enrichment were compared using a scanning mobility particle sizer. Overall, our results indicate that the sampled particles were relative consistently enriched by factors of 100–120 (i.e., a concentration enrichment efficiency 75–85% of the ideal value) based on both PM mass and number concentrations, and along with similar physical properties of the size distribution (i.e., mode, median). Continuous and time-integrated field tests using urban ambient PM also showed consistent enrichment factors (by roughly 100–120 times) for number and mass concentrations, black carbon, and PM-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Copyright 2013 American Association for Aerosol Research

A new technique for online measurement of total and water-soluble copper (Cu) in coarse particulate matter (PM).

This study presents a novel system for online, field measurement of copper (Cu) in ambient coarse (2.5-10 μm) particulate matter (PM). This new system utilizes two virtual impactors combined with a modified liquid impinger (BioSampler) to collect coarse PM directly as concentrated slurry samples. The total and water-soluble Cu concentrations are subsequently measured by a copper Ion Selective Electrode (ISE). Laboratory evaluation results indicated excellent collection efficiency (over 85%) for particles in the coarse PM size ranges. In the field evaluations, very good agreements for both total and water-soluble Cu concentrations were obtained between online ISE-based monitor measurements and those analyzed by means of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Moreover, the field tests indicated that the Cu monitor could achieve near-continuous operation for at least 6 consecutive days (a time resolution of 2-4 h) without obvious shortcomings.