AAAR 37th Annual Conference October 14 - October 18, 2019 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Aerospec – An Online Platform for Analysis of Chemical Composition of Aerosols
HE JIAYANG, Gaurav Mahamuni, Jay Rutherford, Jiawei Zhang, Igor Novosselov, Edmund Seto, University of Washington
Abstract Number: 814 Working Group: Aerosol Chemistry
Abstract Chemical composition of ultrafine particulate matter (PM), such as emissions from combustion sources, is important in characterizing the health impact of an individual’s exposure. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a widespread class of environmental chemical pollutant found in combustion-generated PM. Monitoring of PAH compounds via analytical chemistry techniques presents difficulties due to the high cost of analysis. These PAHs have strong fluorescence signatures. Our web-based platform (AeroSpec) utilizes fluorescence spectroscopy analysis technique, i.e., excitation-emission matrix (EEM) and principal component analysis (PCA) to estimate PAH content of combustion generated aerosols. The EEM spectra can be uploaded through the web interface and compared with the spectra library developed based on the data from laboratory and real-words samples. The EEM spectra library contains sample data correlated with Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) data which enable comparison to spectra from known PAH and single source laboratory samples. The AeroSpec platform was tested for a variety of real-world samples including diesel exhaust, cookstove smoke, and cigarette smoke.