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  • Particulate matter indoors: a strategy to sample and monitor size-selective fractions
    Publication . Bergmans, Benjamin; Cattaneo, Andrea; Duarte, Regina; Gomes, João F. P.; Saraga, Dikaia; Ródenas, M.; Querol, Xavier; Liotta, L.; Safell, J.; Spinazzé, A.; Rovelli, Sabrina; Borghi, Francesca; Cavallo, Domenico Maria; Villanueva, Florentina; Di Gilio, Alessia; MAGGOS, THOMAS; Mihucz, V.
    Particulate matter (PM) is an important player in indoor air quality. Even though PM limit values are in force for more than a decade in Europe and reference methods are well in place for ambient air, measuring indoor PM concentration still remains a challenge and standardizing a measurement protocol is complex. As people stay most of their time indoors, indoor PM is of great interest in terms of public health, as concentration can be drastically different to the one outdoors. This review aims to provide key information to the indoor air monitoring communities, to better understand principal methods suitable for the analysis of indoor PM with their respective main influencing parameters. Advantages and drawbacks of each method are discussed and specific wareness is raised to avoid wrong data interpretation in specific situations. The inter-instrument deviation is also explained and, when possible, methods to correct are proposed.
  • Advanced instrumental approaches for chemical characterization of indoor particulate matter
    Publication . Duarte, Regina; Gomes, João; Querol, Xavier; Cattaneo, Andrea; Bergmans, Benjamin; Saraga, Dikaia; MAGGOS, THOMAS; Di Gilio, Alessia; Rovelli, Sabrina; Villanueva, Florentina
    Particulate matter (PM) is an important player of indoor air quality and a topic of great interest in terms of public health. Deciphering the complex chemical composition of indoor PM is critical to understand the association between particles components and a wide range of adverse health effects. Over the last decades, advanced analytical instrumentation has been produced capable of providing various levels of information on the chemical features of indoor PM. This article reviews the most promising of these sophisticated analytical techniques that could be employed in the identification of organic and inorganic constituents of indoor PM, including (high-resolution) mass spectrometry, organic, carbonaceous and ions analytical techniques, elemental analysis techniques such as atomic spectrometry and X-ray based methods, and surface analysis techniques. A distinction is made between online and offline instrumentation, focusing on their capabilities and how they are currently being used in the targeted and untargeted analysis of PM components. This review aims to provide the indoor air chemistry community with insights into the power of the different techniques available today, so that they can be used advantageously in future studies.
  • Size-segregated chemical composition of aerosol emissions in an urban road tunnel in Portugal
    Publication . Pio, Casimiro; Mirante, Fátima; Oliveira, Cesar; Matos, Manuel; Caseiro, Alexandre; Oliveira, Cristina; Querol, Xavier; Alves, Célia; Martins, Natércia; Cerqueira, Mário; Camões, Filomena; Silva, Hugo; Plana, Feliciano
    An atmospheric aerosol study was performed in 2008 inside an urban road tunnel, in Lisbon, Portugal. Using a high volume impactor, the aerosol was collected into four size fractions (PM0.5, PM0.5-1, PM1-2.5 and PM2.5-10) and analysed for particle mass (PM), organic and elemental carbon (OC and EC), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), soluble inorganic ions and elemental composition. Three main groups of compounds were discriminated in the tunnel aerosol: carbonaceous, soil component and vehicle mechanical wear. Measurements indicate that Cu can be a good tracer for wear emissions of road traffic. Cu levels correlate strongly with Fe, Mn, Sn and Cr, showing a highly linear constant ratio in all size ranges, suggesting a unique origin through sizes. Ratios of Cu with other elements can be used to source apportion the trace elements present in urban atmospheres, mainly on what concerns coarse aerosol particles. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.