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Evaluation of Methods for Analysis of Lead in Air Particulates: An Intra-Laboratory and Inter-Laboratory Comparison
Citation:
Harrington, J., C. Nelson, F. Weber, K. Bradham, K. Levine, AND J. Rice. Evaluation of Methods for Analysis of Lead in Air Particulates: An Intra-Laboratory and Inter-Laboratory Comparison. Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts. RSC Publishing, Cambridge, Uk, 16(2):256-261, (2014).
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory’s (NERL’s) Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division (HEASD) conducts research in support of EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment. HEASD’s research program supports Goal 1 (Clean Air) and Goal 4 (Healthy People) of EPA’s strategic plan. More specifically, our division conducts research to characterize the movement of pollutants from the source to contact with humans. Our multidisciplinary research program produces Methods, Measurements, and Models to identify relationships between and characterize processes that link source emissions, environmental concentrations, human exposures, and target-tissue dose. The impact of these tools is improved regulatory programs and policies for EPA.
Description:
In 2008, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) set a new National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for lead (Pb) in total suspended particulate matter (Pb-TSP) which called for significant decreases in the allowable limits. The Federal Reference Method (FRM) for Pb-TSP promulgated in 1978 prescribes analysis of Pb by flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (FAAS), but the new limits approach the limits of quantitation of FAAS. On August 2, 2013, the USEPA finalized a new FRM for Pb-TSP. This new FRM incorporates two extraction methods and analysis by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The study described here was done to evaluate the use of ICP-MS in the analysis of Pb-TSP for implementation of this new FRM. A multi-laboratory study of the new FRM demonstrated acceptable intra- and inter-laboratory precision and comparability for glass fiber, quartz, and PTFE filters, and acceptable accuracy for the analysis of three National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Standard Reference Materials (SRMs). A comparison was performed between analytical results obtained using the previous FRM and those obtained using the new FRM. The results demonstrate that the ICP-MS method performs acceptably for the determination of Pb-TSP with lower limits of quantitation and strong inter- and intra-laboratory precision.
URLs/Downloads:
FINAL PB-TSP MANUSCRIPT 112513_REVISED.PDF (PDF, NA pp, 240.085 KB, about PDF)Environmental Science Processes and Impacts
