Sampling and analysis of airborne

Winegar, E. D., and Keith, L.H., "Sampling and Analysis of Airborne Pollutants." Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, FL, 1993. 

LeFevre C, Ferrari P, Guenier JP, et al. 1989. Sampling and analysis of airborne methylbromide. Chromatographia 27 37-43. 

In short, care must be taken in sampling and analysis of airborne particles, as well as in the data interpretation, to minimize or at least recognize potential artifact problems. Such problems, along with a need to understand not only the bulk composition of a collection of airborne particles but also that of individual particles, have contributed to the development of realtime and single-particle analysis techniques discussed in the following section. 

Finley B, Fehling K, Falerios M, et al. 1993. Field validation for sampling and analysis of airborne hexavalent chromium. Appl Occup Environ Hyg 8(3) 191-200. 

Winegar, Eric D. and Lawrence H. Keith, Eds., Sampling and Analysis of Airborne... 

The collection and analysis of airborne metal components encountered in air is categorized by physical state. Mercury, lead, and manganese are considered as metallic elements which can be found as components of ambient air. No examples are given for the liquid state. Attention is focused on particulate matter and its trace metal constituents—methods of evaluation considered include AAS, NAA, SS/MS, OES, XRF, and XRD, Elemental compositional levels and ranges of metals are considered. Fluctuations in the composition of samples taken at a site at differing times are noted concen-trational differences between sites can vary by 10 . 

The Analytical Chemistry Branch (ACB) of the Environmental Mon-itoring and Support Laboratory of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has a number of responsibilities for analytical support. Analyses of fuels, sources, and ambient samples are performed along with the analyses of divers other types of specimens including tissue, both plant and animal. One of the major areas of support rendered by the ACB is in support of the National Air Siurveillance Networks (NASN) a portion of this support consists of the analysis of collected material for airborne metallic elemental content. This chapter will, in the main, be a summary of the work done by the ACB with respect to the collection and analysis of airborne metallic elements. 

Johnson, D.A. and Atkins, D.H.F., 1975 An airborne system for the sampling and analysis of sulphur dioxide and atmospheric aerosols. Atmos. Environ., p. 825. 

B. W. Loo, J. M. JaMevic, and F. S. Goulding, "Dichotomous Virtual Impactors for Large Scale Monitoring of Airborne Particulate Matter," in B. Y. H. Liu, ed., Eine Particles, Aerosol Generation, Measurement, Sampling and Analysis, Academic Press, Inc., New York, 1976, pp. 311—350. 

Sihcone contamination has been impHcated as a cause of failure in telephone switching systems and other devices that contain relay switch contacts (507). Analysis of airborne particulates near telephone switching stations showed the presence of siUcones at these locations. Where the indoor use of sihcones is intentionally minimised, outdoor levels were found to be higher than inside concentrations (508). Samples of particulates taken at two New Jersey office buildings revealed sihcone levels that were considerably higher indoors than outdoors. In these cases, indoor sihcone aerosols are beheved to be generated primarily by photocopiers, which use sihcone fuser oils. 

Consideration is given to the nature of airborne powders and fumes found in the workplace, their effects on health and methods used in their sampling and analysis. Particular... 

Some aspects of the sources, occurrence, and dispersion of airborne pesticide residues (6, 27) and methods for their sampling and analysis (28, 29, 30, 31) have been reviewed elsewhere. In this paper, the focus will be on sampling methodology, experimental design, and some results from recent field tests aimed at determining the entry and proximate fate of airborne residues in relation to specific agricultural treatments. 

Arnold, D., Jagielak, J., Kolb, W., Pietruszewski, A., Wershofen, H. and Zarucki, R., Practical experience in and improvements to aerosol sampling for trace analysis of airborne radionuclides in ground level air. PTB-Report PTB-Ra-34, Physikalishc-Technische Bundesanstalt, Braunschweig, Germany, ISSN 0341-6747, ISBN 3-89429-436-1. 

For the analysis of airborne dust a sample decomposition procedure, which takes into account that much silica material is present, together with ETAAS may be useful, but it again suffers from the monoelemental capability. Airborne dust can also be analyzed directly by slurry sampling and can even be directly sampled in the graphite tube. Integrated sampling analysis procedures especially for easily volatile elements such as Pb and Cd are feasible. 

Contamination may arise from use of solvents within the laboratory or from an adjacent laboratory with a shared ventilation system and can lead to airborne contamination of sample vials and other equipment. Particular care should be taken in the area where samples are handled and transferred and during the preparation of concentrated standard solutions. Many laboratories, particularly where large volumes of solvents are regularly used, find it necessary to have special room, often positively pressurised, for the preparation and analysis of samples for VOCs. Recently decorated rooms can also be a source of VOCs from surface coatings. Contamination can often be intermittent with the wind direction being the controlling factor. 

An overview of capillary gas chromatography is presented. Selected environmental applications, such as PCB s in water, PAH s in airborne particulate matter, and TCDD s at the part-per-trillion level illustrate the separation and analysis of complex mixtures. The chromatographic performance, characteristics, and trade-offs of packed and capillary columns are described in terms of permeability and efficiency, sample capacity, choice of stationary phase, high temperature capabilities, quantitative accuracy, and the development of GC separation methods. 

ScHMELiNG M and Klockow D (1997) Sample collection and preparation for analysis of airborne particulate matter by total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. Anal Chim Acta 346 121-126. 

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