AAAR 31st Annual Conference
October 8-12, 2012
Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
Application of Ambient Ion Monitoring in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region
YU-MEI HSU, Wood Buffalo Environmental Association
Abstract Number: 153 Working Group: Instrumentation and Methods
Abstract A semi-continuous ambient ion monitor (AIM, URG-9000D, URG) is being used to monitor low ambient concentrations of inorganic gases (NH$_3, HCl, HNO$_2, HNO$_3 and SO$_2) and water-soluble aerosol species in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) of northeastern Alberta. The AIM includes two ion chromatography systems for cation and anion analyses, a parallel denuder plate with H$_2O$_2 solution for absorbing gases, and a cyclone with steam DI water for collecting aerosols. For field application, the AIM has been modified to include: (1) N$_2 to control the flowrate of H$_2O$_2 solution passing through the denuder plate; (2) a carbonate removal device to reduce carbonate concentration in the water used for anion analysis.
The ambient ion monitor has collected hourly data at the Fort McKay community air monitoring station surrounded by the industrial areas from 2010 to 2011, including a forest fire episode. A Dynacalibrator has been applied to generate the known concentrations of SO$_2, NH$_3 and HNO$_3 to examine the collection efficiencies and response time.
Preliminary results indicate that inorganic aerosol species and gas species concentrations are low at this community station. The collection efficient for SO$_2 is higher than 90%. The correlation coefficient for ambient average-hourly SO$_2 concentrations measured by the ambient ion monitor and a continuous monitor was 0.81. The relation of particulate sulfate concentrations between AIM and an annular denuder sampling system was good. During the forest fire, elevated particulate ammonium and nitrate concentrations were observed.