Abstract View
Non-Targeted Screening Approach for Biomass Combustion Organic Aerosol Composition
THUSITHA DIVISEKARA, Simeon Schum, Lynn Mazzoleni, Michigan Technological University
Abstract Number: 672
Working Group: Instrumentation and Methods
Abstract
Biomass combustion contributes a large amount of aerosol particles to the atmosphere impacting the climate system and human health. Identification of the molecular composition of biomass burning organic aerosol is challenging because of its complex nature. Ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry (UHRMS) is often used for organic aerosol analysis, but direct infusion does not provide structural or quantitative information. Traditionally, liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with mass spectrometry uses targeted screening methods, which can limit the analysis of aerosol to preconceived compositions. Non-Targeted Screening (NTS) methods provide a comprehensive analysis, but instrument and data analysis methods are challenging due to the extreme complexity of natural samples. In this work, we use LC and UHRMS to analyze commercially available liquid smoke as a surrogate for biomass burning aerosol. Non-targeted chromatographic data was studied using MZMine2.53 and the extracted analytes were identified using MFAssignR software. Over 1300 individual molecular formulas corresponding to 5241 molecular species including structural isomers were successfully assigned. Of these, 1153 molecular formulas were common between direct infusion and LC/UHRMS analysis for the same liquid smoke sample. The common formulas accounted for 99% of the total peak area in the LC/UHRMS identified species and 97% of the total abundance of the direct infusion UHRMS identified species. The results demonstrate a significant advance in our ability to obtain structural and quantitative information about the molecular level composition of biomass burning aerosol.