title: Measurement of the carbonaceous component in the Milan urban particulate matter.
abstract: The carbonaceous component in the Milan urban particulate matter, i.e. the two components black carbon (BC) and organic carbon (OC), has been measured by means of a thermogravimetric analyzer combined with an infrared spectrophotometer (TGA/FT-IR). While black carbon may be considered a primary pollutant, organic carbon includes both primary emissions and secondary organic aerosols. Since carbonaceous aerosol (including a small quantity of inorganic carbon, too) makes up roughly from 25% to 50% of the average annual PM 2.5 mass concentration, a deeper understanding of this component is required. The TGA/FT-IR technique, employed for the first time to our knowledge for the quantification of the particulate matter carbonaceous component, allows, thought the results here presented are preliminary, to assess the two components BC and OC in a simple way especially if compared with the methods reported in the literature. The total carbon (TC) determinations performed by TGA/FT-IR on Milan urban particulate matter are in good agreement with the results obtained by a total organic carbon (TOC) analyzer operating directly on the solid sample.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica Inorganica, Metallorganica e Analitica, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Venezian 21, 20133 Milano, Italy. paola.fermo@unimi.it
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fermo
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gilardoni
authors.forename: Tania
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jauni Simarro
authors.forename: Ezio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bolzacchini
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lasagni
authors.forename: Vorne
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gianelle
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pozzoli
authors.forename: Grazia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Perrone
authors.forename: Vito
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Librando
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D002138:Calibration; D002244:Carbon / Q000032:analysis*; D007558:Italy; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000032:analysis*; D010316:Particle Size; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D014504:Urban Health
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols; D000393:Air Pollutants; D009930:Organic Chemicals; D002244:Carbon