MORPHOLOGY OF BLACK CARBON AEROSOLS AND UBIQUITY OF 50-NANOMETER BLACK CARBON AEROSOLS IN THE ATMOSPHERE

Different-sized aerosols were collected by an Andersen air sampler to observe the detailed morphology of the black carbon （BC） aerosols which were separated chemically from the other accompanying aerosols, using a Scanning Electron Microscope equipped with an Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometer （SEM-EDX）. The results indicate that most BC aerosols are spherical particles of about 50 nm in diameter and with a homogeneous surface. Results also show that these particles aggregate with other aerosols or with themselves to form larger agglomerates in the micrometer range. The shape of these 50-nm BC spherical particles was found to be very similar to that of BC particles released from petroleum-powered vehicular internal combustion engines. These spherical BC particles were shown to be different from the previously reported fullerenes found using Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-Of-Flight Mass Spectrometry （MALDI-TOF-MS）.     

A new polar nephelometer for measurement of atmospheric aerosols

The angular dependence of light scattered by aerosol particles in the atmosphere—the aerosol phase function—is one of the key properties of every radiative transfer and climate model. Side-scattering in the atmosphere is currently believed to be underestimated by most of the radiative transfer models in certain cases. The aerosol phase function can be measured with polar nephelometers.An innovative polar nephelometer able to measure the phase function of ambient aerosol directly is presented in this publication. The performance of the device was simulated completely using ray-tracing techniques. The results of these simulations are used to interpret the measurement data precisely. The measurements with the new polar nephelometer are fully automated. The quality of the measurement results was verified using different approaches. The values of the statistical and systematic error in measuring atmospheric aerosol are about 4% each. Scattering angles from 10° to 160° were measured and it is shown that with the same design this range can be extended to 3-177° in steps of 0.16° with an aperture of less than 1.8°.Measurements of the aerosol phase function are presented and compared with data taken with an integrating nephelometer and measurements of the particulate matter concentration. All data correlate very well. The described polar nephelometer can measure the phase function and the scattering coefficient of atmospheric aerosol with high accuracy and can be used for continuous monitoring measurements as well as in field campaigns.     

The Effect of Boundary Conditions on Gas-phase Synthesised Silver Nanoparticles

We have prepared spherical non-agglomerated silver nanoparticles by an evaporation–condensation–dilution/cooling technique. Silver was evaporated from a crucible in a tubular flow reactor. A porous tube diluter was used to quench the carrier gas at the outlet of the reactor to enhance the formation of small particles and to suppress agglomeration and other particle growth mechanisms. The number size distribution of the prepared particles was measured with a differential mobility analyser–condensation nucleus counter combination and the size and the shape of the particles were analysed with transmission electron microscope. The system was modelled using a sectional aerosol dynamics computer code to estimate the importance of different aerosol processes. In all conditions the particles obtained were non-agglomerated and spherical. The mean particle diameter varied from 4 to 10-nm depending on boundary conditions. From the modelling studies it can be concluded that the nucleation rate is the most important parameter controlling the final particle size.     

Atmospheric aerosol limb scanning based on the lunar eclipses photometry

The work is devoted to the analysis of the surface photometric observations of two total lunar eclipses in 2004. The lunar surface relative brightness distribution inside the umbra was used to retrieve the vertical distribution of aerosol extinction of the solar radiation expanding by a tangent path and its dependence on the location at the limb of the Earth. The upper altitude of troposphere aerosol layer was estimated for different latitude zones. The correlation between additional aerosol extinction in the upper troposphere and cyclones was investigated.     

Local and non-local sources of airborne particulate pollution at Beijing--The ratio of Mg/Al as an element tracer for estimating the contributions of mineral aerosols from outside Beijing

A new element tracer technique has firstly been established to estimate the contributions of mineral aerosols from both inside and outside Beijing. The ratio of Mg/Al in aerosol is a feasible element tracer to distinguish between the sources of inside and outside Beijing. Mineral aerosol, inorganic pollution aerosol mainly as sulfate and nitrate, and organic aerosol are the major components of airborne particulates in Beijing, of which mineral aerosol accounted for 32%―67% of total suspended particles (TSP), 10%―70% of fine particles (PM2.5), and as high as 74% and 90% of TSP and PM2.5, respectively, in dust storm. The sources from outside Beijing contributed 62% (38%―86%) of the total mineral aerosols in TSP, 69% (52%―90%) in PM10, and 76% (59%―93%) in PM2.5 in spring, and 69% (52%―83%), 79% (52%―93%), and 45% (7%―79%) in TSP, PM10, and PM2.5, respectively, in winter, while only ～20% in summer and autumn. The sources from outside Beijing contributed as high as 97% during dust storm and were the dominant source of airborne particulates in Beijing. The contributions from outside Beijing in spring and winter are higher than those in summer, indicating clearly that it was related to the various meteorological factors.     

Error of DIAL-measured Ozone Concentration and a Three-Wavelength Inversion Technique

Sensitivity of the error in the stratospheric ozone concentration measured by DIAL to the scattering property of the stratospheric aerosol is studied through both theoretical analysis and numerical experiment in this paper, and based on the sensitivity, a three-wavelength lidar inversion technique is proposed for a simultaneous determination of ozone concentration profile, aerosol backscatter coefficient profile and its size distribution in the stratosphere. It is found from the sensitivity study that there is a considerable effect of the stratospheric aerosol on accuracy of the ozone concentration solution. If the aerosol scattering is neglected, a large error of the solution can be obtained, especially when there is the stratospheric volcanic cloud, the error can be up to 100%. According to numerical experiments, a great improvement of the ozone concentration solution is obtained by using the present three-wavelenght inversion method.     

Material transport between the atmosphere and sediment of the Lake Balaton

A monitoring system was developed to gain information on the present level of pollutants in the Lake Balaton, Hungary. Determination of 13 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and inorganic pollutants (mostly toxic metals) in aerosol, precipitation and sediment samples was carried out. The aim of collecting aerosol and precipitate samples in the same site at the same period was to determine the distribution of elements in two depositions. For the fractionation by particle size, aerosols were sampled by a cascade impactor. A simple three-stage sequential leaching procedure was applied to establish the distribution of metals among environmentally mobile, bound to carbonates and oxides, and environmentally immobile, (bound to silicates) fractions in aerosols. Sediment samples were collected from 17 different sites inside of the lake and 10 sites at harbors at 30–70 cm in depth. Core samples were cut to 10-cm pieces, dried at room temperature, and finally passed through a 63-μm sieve. Total concentrations of elements were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) after an acidic digestion. The concentrations of PAHs were determined by HPLC method with fluorescence detection.In aerosol samples collected from September 6, 2002 to January 26, 2003, concentration of Cd was <0.1 μg/m³, and the majority of Cd has been found in the mobile fraction. Cadmium was associated to particles between 0.25 and 2 μm indicating the anthropogenic origin. Similar distribution of Pb was obtained in all seasons, and the highest concentration of Pb was found as 8.6 ng/m³ in particle size of 0.7 and 1.4 μm. Results of total concentration of elements of bottom sediments of the Lake Balaton and harbors were compared to Interim Sediment Quality Guideline (ISQG) values and the Probable Effect Level (PEL) values. Data showed that the average concentrations of elements were usually less than those of ISQGs and other background data for soils and geochemical values. The sediment is not polluted and its disposal is feasible. There is no direct correlation between the concentration of elements deposited onto the surface of the lake from dry and wet deposition and the upper part of the sediment. So, from the budget of the deposition, the concentration of elements in the upper layer of the sediment cannot be predicted.Seasonal changes of the concentration of PAHs in aerosol was observed, samples collected at winter contained the highest values. In December–January 2002/2003, the wet deposition was found as 64 μg/m² period. Among the individual compounds, the wet deposition rate of phenantrane, fluoranthene and pyrene was dominant, while for dry deposition, these compounds were fluoranthene and pyrene. The concentrations of ∑PAHs found for all sites and depth of sediment samples ranged from 11 to 1734 μg/kg dry weight with an average of 132 μg/kg. These values represent a quite low pollution level compared to other sediment with anthropogenic influence. Based on the results, it can be definitely confirmed that the chemical quality of the water and sediment of the Lake Balaton is satisfactory.     

Electron beam induced purification of dilute off gases from industrial processes and automobile tunnels

The electron beam process has proved to be an efficient method for the removal of inorganic pollutants from flue gas. Since it simulates natural processes which occur in the atmospheric photochemistry, it appeared attractive to investigate the potential of the e-beam process to clean off-gases which contain hydrocarbon and inorganic trace components. Such emissions arise from industrial processes and from automobile tunnels. Commercial solvents were vaporized in air and irradiated with energetic electrons (300 keV). CO, CO₂ and aerosol particles were found as products and were determined quantitatively. The aerosol particles can be collected by a gravel bed filter and can be removed by combustion or biological degradation. From experiments and model calculations it was found that the e-beam process is a very economic tool to remove hydrocarbons from large off-gas volumes at initial concentrations of 50–100 mg C/m³, and that NO_x can be removed very efficiently from tunnel off-gas.     

二次有机气溶胶的气体/粒子分配理论

本文重点评述了二次有机气溶胶形成的气体/粒子分配理论,简要介绍了它的发展和可能的应用.在大气中,气体有机物种的氧化可以产生半挥发性的有机化合物,二次有机气溶胶的形成可以用气体/粒子分配的吸收模型来评估.气体/粒子分配过程决定于半挥发性化合物的成分、浓度和蒸气压,以及吸收性材料的浓度和成分.在气体/粒子分配理论的基础上,人们又研究和开发出二次有机气溶胶的分子组分的气体/粒子分配的热力学模型,它可以用来预估气溶胶中液态水的含量、无机物的分布、亲水性和疏水性有机物的分布.二次有机气溶胶形成的化学机理和气体/粒子分配的热力学模型与加利福尼亚工学院三维都市/区域性大气模型相结合,可以用于气相和气溶胶相模拟.     

Synthesis of spherical microcapsules by photopolymerization in aerosols

 The preparation of polymer microcapsules of well defined size in the range of 10–50 μm with different shell thickness to core diameter ratios is described. An aerosol of monodisperse droplets of a homogeneous ternary liquid system which contained a hydrophobic component and a hydrophilic component dissolved in a high-volatile mutual solvent, was produced by dispersing with a vibrating-orifice aerosol generator. After the evaporation of the solvent in a nitrogen atmosphere the particles demix and form a two-phase droplet of core-shell type. These droplets were illuminated with UV light and polymerized to highly monodisperse microcapsules with a solid polymer shell and a liquid core. The properties of the resulting particles (size, size distribution, shell thickness, shape and surface characteristics) were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy on single optically levitated particles, and confocal Raman micro spectroscopy. The microcapsules were highly monodisperse and have spherical shape. Received: 24 July 1996 Accepted: 29 August 1996