Methodology to Create Reproducible Validation/Reference Materials for Comparison of Filter-Based Measurements of Carbonaceous Aerosols That Measure BC, BrC, EC, OC, and TC

A simple method that reproducibly creates validation/reference materials for comparison of methods measure the carbonaceous content atmospheric particulate matter deposited on filter media at concentrations relevant to levels has been developed and evaluated. Commonly used determine major components particles collected filters include optical attenuation “Black” (BC) “Brown” (BrC) carbon, thermal-optical analysis (TOA) “Elemental” (EC) “Organic” (OC) total combustion “Total” carbon (TC). The new uses a commercial inkjet printer deposit ink containing both organic inorganic onto substrates programmable print densities (print levels, as specified by printer–software combination). variety were (ATN) sample was determined 880 nm 370 nm. Reproducibility or precision (as standard deviation in percent coefficient variation) ATN Teflon-coated glass-fiber, Teflon, cellulose better than 5%. other 15%. EC OC measured quartz-fiber (QFF) compared either QFF glass-fiber yielded R2 > 0.92 >0.97, respectively. Four independent laboratories participated round robin study together with reference laboratory. propagated among five groups across all <2.2 <2.7 variation <2% ~100 ATN.