Development and application of a quantification method for water soluble organosulfates in atmospheric aerosols.
In recent years, organosulfates have been found as a significant component of secondary organic aerosols from both smog chamber experiments and field measurements. In this study, an indirect method was developed to estimate organosulfates in aerosol particles as a whole based on their sulfate functional group. A series of experiments were conducted to optimize and validate the method, and it was then applied to quantify organosulfates in the aerosol samples collected at three sampling characteristic sites in Shenzhen, with one close to a power plant (PP), one at a heavy traffic intersection (HTI), and one on the campus of Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen graduate school (HITSZ). On average, the mass concentrations of organic sulfur (Sorg) were 1.98, 1.11, 0.25 μgS m-3in PP, HTI and HITSZ respectively. The lower bounds of mass concentrations of organosuflates (OMs-related) were 6.86, 3.85 and 0.86 μg m-3and the upper bounds of mass concentrations of organosulfates were 23.05, 12.93 and 2.90 μg m-3in PP, HTI and HITSZ respectively. This indicates that primary emissions from coal burning and automobile exhaust can promote the secondary formation of organosulfates in the atmosphere. Overall, the mass concentrations observed in this work were higher than those reported by previous studies.
Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Organic Pollution Prevention and Control, Shenzhen 518055, PR China. Electronic address: caogang@hit.edu.cn.
Gang
G
Cao
Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Organic Pollution Prevention and Control, Shenzhen 518055, PR China.
Xiaopei
X
Zhao
State Key Laboratory of Environmental and Biological Analysis, Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China; HKBU Institute of Research and Continuing Education, Shenzhen Virtual University Park, Shenzhen, 518057, PR China.
Di
D
Hu
Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Organic Pollution Prevention and Control, Shenzhen 518055, PR China.
Rongshu
R
Zhu
Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Organic Pollution Prevention and Control, Shenzhen 518055, PR China.
Feng
F
Ouyang
D000336:Aerosols / Q000032:analysis*; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D001272:Atmosphere / Q000737:chemistry; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D013431:Sulfates / Q000032:analysis*; D013455:Sulfur; D001335:Vehicle Emissions / Q000032:analysis; D014867:Water
D000336:Aerosols; D000393:Air Pollutants; D013431:Sulfates; D001335:Vehicle Emissions; D014867:Water; D013455:Sulfur
Ion chromatography; Organosulfates; PM(2.5); Quantification