Carbonaceous aerosol in ambient air: Parallel measurements between water cyclone and carbon analyzer

A water cyclone, developed to collect and preserve biological aerosols in a small liquid flow, was interfaced with a total organic carbon analyzer to measure the aerosol organic and inorganic carbon fractions. The total carbon was compared against parallel measurements of elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC) using a Sunset Real Time ECOC Analyzer between 12–29 January 2009. A National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) like protocol for the measurements included four temperature steps ending at 840 °C for OC under a helium atmosphere followed by two temperature steps ramped to 850 °C for EC in a helium–oxygen atmosphere. Carbon data comparison between the water cyclone-TOC and the TOC measured by the analyzer indicated good agreement (r² = 0.82, linear regression slope = 0.98, p < 0.001). Analyses of the relationship between total water organic carbon and OC, investigated using data sets from case studies spanning two different events, suggested it was possible to distinguish between the primary and secondary sources.