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Towards the isolation and estimation of elemental carbon in atmospheric aerosols using supercritical fluid extraction and thermo-optical analysis

Azeem, Hafiz Abdul LU ; Martinsson, Johan LU ; Stenström, Kristina Eriksson LU ; Swietlicki, Erik LU orcid and Sandahl, Margareta LU (2017) In Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 409(17). p.4293-4300
Abstract

Air-starved combustion of biomass and fossil fuels releases aerosols, including airborne carbonaceous particles, causing negative climatic and health effects. Radiocarbon analysis of the elemental carbon (EC) fraction can help apportion sources of its emission, which is greatly constrained by the challenges in isolation of EC from organic compounds in atmospheric aerosols. The isolation of EC using thermo-optical analysis is however biased by the presence of interfering compounds that undergo pyrolysis during the analysis. EC is considered insoluble in all acidic, basic, and organic solvents. Based on the property of insolubility, a sample preparation method using supercritical CO2 and methanol as co-solvent was developed to... (More)

Air-starved combustion of biomass and fossil fuels releases aerosols, including airborne carbonaceous particles, causing negative climatic and health effects. Radiocarbon analysis of the elemental carbon (EC) fraction can help apportion sources of its emission, which is greatly constrained by the challenges in isolation of EC from organic compounds in atmospheric aerosols. The isolation of EC using thermo-optical analysis is however biased by the presence of interfering compounds that undergo pyrolysis during the analysis. EC is considered insoluble in all acidic, basic, and organic solvents. Based on the property of insolubility, a sample preparation method using supercritical CO2 and methanol as co-solvent was developed to remove interfering organic compounds. The efficiency of the method was studied by varying the density of supercritical carbon dioxide by means of temperature and pressure and by varying the methanol content. Supercritical CO2 with 10% methanol by volume at a temperature of 60 °C, a pressure of 350 bar and 20 min static mode extraction were found to be the most suitable conditions for the removal of 59 ± 3% organic carbon, including compounds responsible for pyrolysis with 78 ± 16% EC recovery. The results indicate that the method has potential for the estimation and isolation of EC from OC for subsequent analysis methods and source apportionment studies.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Atmospheric aerosols, Elemental carbon, Pyrolytic organic carbon, Source apportionment, Supercritical carbon dioxide, Thermo-optical analysis
in
Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry
volume
409
issue
17
pages
4293 - 4300
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:85019037543
  • pmid:28484807
  • wos:000403465800019
ISSN
1618-2642
DOI
10.1007/s00216-017-0380-0
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
29c18e94-295d-412f-b192-2a0079f33e33
date added to LUP
2017-05-31 08:38:11
date last changed
2024-05-26 16:39:09
@article{29c18e94-295d-412f-b192-2a0079f33e33,
  abstract     = {{<p>Air-starved combustion of biomass and fossil fuels releases aerosols, including airborne carbonaceous particles, causing negative climatic and health effects. Radiocarbon analysis of the elemental carbon (EC) fraction can help apportion sources of its emission, which is greatly constrained by the challenges in isolation of EC from organic compounds in atmospheric aerosols. The isolation of EC using thermo-optical analysis is however biased by the presence of interfering compounds that undergo pyrolysis during the analysis. EC is considered insoluble in all acidic, basic, and organic solvents. Based on the property of insolubility, a sample preparation method using supercritical CO<sub>2</sub> and methanol as co-solvent was developed to remove interfering organic compounds. The efficiency of the method was studied by varying the density of supercritical carbon dioxide by means of temperature and pressure and by varying the methanol content. Supercritical CO<sub>2</sub> with 10% methanol by volume at a temperature of 60 °C, a pressure of 350 bar and 20 min static mode extraction were found to be the most suitable conditions for the removal of 59 ± 3% organic carbon, including compounds responsible for pyrolysis with 78 ± 16% EC recovery. The results indicate that the method has potential for the estimation and isolation of EC from OC for subsequent analysis methods and source apportionment studies.</p>}},
  author       = {{Azeem, Hafiz Abdul and Martinsson, Johan and Stenström, Kristina Eriksson and Swietlicki, Erik and Sandahl, Margareta}},
  issn         = {{1618-2642}},
  keywords     = {{Atmospheric aerosols; Elemental carbon; Pyrolytic organic carbon; Source apportionment; Supercritical carbon dioxide; Thermo-optical analysis}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{17}},
  pages        = {{4293--4300}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry}},
  title        = {{Towards the isolation and estimation of elemental carbon in atmospheric aerosols using supercritical fluid extraction and thermo-optical analysis}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00216-017-0380-0}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s00216-017-0380-0}},
  volume       = {{409}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}