RT Journal Article
T1 A simple and precise methodology to determine particulate matter mass in atmospheric filters; validation and application cases
A1 Barba Lobo, Alejandro
A1 Gutiérrez Álvarez, Isidoro
A1 Adame Carnero, José Antonio
A1 Bolívar Raya, Juan Pedro
AB In the past decades, particulate matter (PM) measurements have been used extensively in atmospheric sciences, as it allows studying the evolution of tracers for different atmospheric processes and the effects of atmospheric pollution on human health. However, measuring PM mass requires a constant control of the laboratory conditions due to its capacity to absorb humidity. For this reason, this study was focused on developing a novel, simple and precise methodology to determine the corrections of the filter mass due to humidity changes. The control and corrections are possible using a “control filter”, which is always adapted to the environmental conditions of the laboratory. To check the consistency of this method, it was proved that the mass of any problem filter and that of the control filter behave in a very similar way. This allows quantifying the mass changes of any problem filter by using the control filter, where the problem filters and the control filter must have the same chemical composition and dimensions. To validate this methodology, a comparison was made between the methodology proposed in this study (Method-1) and the one proposed by the EPA (Method-2), which is generally applied. The particulate matter mass (m) was obtained for a problem filter for different weights, achieving similar values using both methods. However, Method-1 still provided reliable mass measurements for relative humidities very different from 50%, even as low as 18%. It was also proved that the adsorption or loss of water by the particulate matter can be neglected, since m is much smaller than the blank filter mass. Method-1 was also employed in several samplings carried out using three PM10 samplers to determine contaminants, such as 7Be and 210Pb, obtaining a good agreement between all particulate masses and activities measured by the three samplers for all samplings.
PB Elsevier
SN 0013-9351
YR 2022
FD 2022-11-01
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10272/21430
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10272/21430
LA eng
NO Barba Lobo, A., Gutiérrez-Álvarez, I., Adame Carnero, J.A., Bolívar, J.P.: "A simple and precise methodology to determine particulate matter mass in atmospheric filters; validation and application cases". Environ. Res., Vol. 214, 113817, (2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2022.113817
NO This research has partially funded by the projects of the Regional Government of Andalusia called “Basic processes regulating the fractionations and enrichments of natural radionuclides under acid mine drainage conditions” (Ref.: UHU-1255876), and “Treatment of acid leachates from phosphogypsum piles located at Huelva, and transport modelling of the released radionuclides” (Ref.: P20_00096), the project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities’ Research Agency “Development and optimization of a process for removing natural radionuclides in phosphogypsum leachates” (Ref.: PID2020-116461RB-C21), and the Project for Novel Principal Investigators “Quantitative study of the variables involved in the radon exhalation rate for granular solids; application to rafts of granular solid phosphogypsum” (Ref.: UHUPJ-00005-632). The authors acknowledge the funding for open access charge provided by Universidad de Huelva / CBUA. The authors would like to thank A.M. Padilla for his great help provided in order to make this study possible.
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 31 may 2026