Air quality assessment and the use of specific markers to apportion pollutants to source.
type: CreativeWork
description: The contributions of specific polluting sources to both indoor and outdoor atmospheric pollution are difficult to determine, as solid and gaseous products from different combustion sources are often similar. Sometimes, however, a marker compound can be identified that is unique to a pollution source (or at least not present in most other local combustion sources) and which will allow assessment of the contribution of that source to total atmospheric pollution.The aim of this study was to identify suitable marker compounds and methods for the apportionment (assessment of percentage contribution) of specific sources to atmospheric pollution. The sources selected were diesel exhaust emissions in outdoor, and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in indoor environments. Studies with controlled (laboratory) atmospheres would be followed by field studies using these methods and markers to produce apportionments for these sources to air pollution in selected environments. Initial analysis of such polluting sources was therefore the qualitative analysis of volatile compounds and particulate associated material, both organic and inorganic. Volatile organic compounds were adsorbed onto various resins, while particulate material was sampled onto various filter paper types. Organics were determined by GC-AED and GC-MS, and elements by ICP-MS.1-Nitropyrene was identified as a suitable marker for diesel particulate emissions (<5um). A large volume air sample from Sheffield city centre using 1-nitropyrene as a marker suggested that 63% of atmospheric particulate material (<5um) might be of diesel origin. However the concentration of 1-nitropyrene is low in atmospheric samples, and in the volumes used in routine sampling the amount of 1-nitropyrene was below the limit of detection on the instrument used. In an alternative approach the aliphatic alkane tetracosane (C24) was used as a diesel marker for urban air, with a 1-nitropyrene:tetracosane ratio derived from the average results fro…
abstract: The contributions of specific polluting sources to both indoor and outdoor atmospheric pollution are difficult to determine, as solid and gaseous products from different combustion sources are often similar. Sometimes, however, a marker compound can be identified that is unique to a pollution source (or at least not present in most other local combustion sources) and which will allow assessment of the contribution of that source to total atmospheric pollution.The aim of this study was to identify suitable marker compounds and methods for the apportionment (assessment of percentage contribution) of specific sources to atmospheric pollution. The sources selected were diesel exhaust emissions in outdoor, and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in indoor environments. Studies with controlled (laboratory) atmospheres would be followed by field studies using these methods and markers to produce apportionments for these sources to air pollution in selected environments. Initial analysis of such polluting sources was therefore the qualitative analysis of volatile compounds and particulate associated material, both organic and inorganic. Volatile organic compounds were adsorbed onto various resins, while particulate material was sampled onto various filter paper types. Organics were determined by GC-AED and GC-MS, and elements by ICP-MS.1-Nitropyrene was identified as a suitable marker for diesel particulate emissions (<5um). A large volume air sample from Sheffield city centre using 1-nitropyrene as a marker suggested that 63% of atmospheric particulate material (<5um) might be of diesel origin. However the concentration of 1-nitropyrene is low in atmospheric samples, and in the volumes used in routine sampling the amount of 1-nitropyrene was below the limit of detection on the instrument used. In an alternative approach the aliphatic alkane tetracosane (C24) was used as a diesel marker for urban air, with a 1-nitropyrene:tetracosane ratio derived from the average results fro…
author: Douce, David Stewart.
language: en
date published: 1998
date modified: 2026-07-24T06:31:24Z
provider: Sheffield Hallam University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Sheffield Hallam University (United Kingdom).