Abstract View
A Novel Approach for Carbon Constant Calibration and Validation of the Magee Scientific Total Carbon Analyzer TCA08
Gašper Lavrič, KLEMEN KUNSTELJ, Martin Rigler, Aerosol d.o.o.
Abstract Number: 174
Working Group: Carbonaceous Aerosol
Abstract
Introduction
Carbonaceous aerosols are usually the most significant contributor to fine particulate matter (PM2.5). They are frequently separated into organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) based on their volatility using thermal-optical methods.
The Magee Scientific Total Carbon Analyzer, Model TCA08, is a newly developed scientific instrument that measures the Total Carbon Content ("TC") of suspended aerosol particles in near real-time using a simplified thermal method (Rigler et al., 2020). The combination of Total Carbon Analyzer TCA08 and the Magee Scientific Aethalometer® model AE33 provides a novel approach for measuring TC, eBC, OC, EC content of suspended aerosol particles near-real-time with high-time resolution.
The TC-BC method determines OC fraction of carbonaceous aerosols defined as
OC=TC-b·eBC
The determined proportionality parameter b is region/site-specific and depends mainly on the thermal protocol used to determine the EC fraction with a conventional OC-EC method.
Carbon constant Calibration/validation procedure
Carbon Constant calibration of the Total Carbon Analyzer TCA08 is a key operation to ensure the carbon detector's proper operation during measurement campaigns. The procedure is performed using punches of dry ambient filters that were previously measured with calibrated laboratory OC/EC instrument to determine their TC concentration.
Keywords: ambient filters, total carbon, calibration
References
Rigler, M., et al.: The new instrument using a TC–BC (total carbon–black carbon) method for the online measurement of carbonaceous aerosols, 13, 4333–4351, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4333-2020, 2020.