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Intercomparison of C-14 Analysis of Carbonaceous Aerosols: Exercise 2009

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Author

  • S. Szidat
  • G. Bench
  • V. Bernardoni
  • G. Calzolai
  • C. I. Czimczik
  • L. Derendorp
  • U. Dusek
  • K. Elder
  • M. E. Fedi
  • Johan Genberg
  • O. Gustafsson
  • E. Kirillova
  • M. Kondo
  • A. P. McNichol
  • Nolwenn Perron
  • G. M. Santos
  • Kristina Stenström
  • Erik Swietlicki
  • M. Uchida
  • R. Vecchi
  • L. Wacker
  • Y. L. Zhang
  • A. S. H. Prevot
Show all

Summary, in English

Radiocarbon analysis of the carbonaceous aerosol allows an apportionment of fossil and non-fossil sources of airborne particulate matter (PM). A chemical separation of total carbon (TC) into its subfractions organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) refines this powerful technique, as OC and EC originate from different sources and undergo different processes in the atmosphere. Although C-14 analysis of TC, EC, and OC has recently gained increasing attention, interlaboratory quality assurance measures have largely been missing, especially for the isolation of EC and OC. In this work, we present results from an intercomparison of 9 laboratories for C-14 analysis of carbonaceous aerosol samples on quartz fiber filters. Two ambient PM samples and 1 reference material (RM 8785) were provided with representative filter blanks. All laboratories performed C-14 determinations of TC and a subset of isolated EC and OC for isotopic measurement. In general, C-14 measurements of TC and OC agreed acceptably well between the laboratories, i.e. for TC within 0.015-0.025 (FC)-C-14 for the ambient filters and within 0.041 (FC)-C-14 for RM 8785. Due to inhomogeneous filter loading, RM 8785 demonstrated only limited applicability as a reference material for C-14 analysis of carbonaceous aerosols. C-14 analysis of EC revealed a large deviation between the laboratories of 28-79% as a consequence of different separation techniques. This result indicates a need for further discussion on optimal methods of EC isolation for C-14 analysis and a second stage of this intercomparison.

Publishing year

2013

Language

English

Pages

1496-1509

Publication/Series

Radiocarbon

Volume

55

Issue

2-3

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Arizona Board of Regents (University of Arizona)

Topic

  • Subatomic Physics

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0033-8222