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SAMPLING AND ANALYTICAL METHODOLOGY FOR ATMOSPHERIC PARTICULATE NITRATES
Citation:
Spicer, C., P. Schumacher, J. Kouyoumjian, AND D. Joseph. SAMPLING AND ANALYTICAL METHODOLOGY FOR ATMOSPHERIC PARTICULATE NITRATES. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/2-78/067 (NTIS PB281933), 1978.
Description:
Environmental conditions that affect atmospheric particulate nitrate sampling were identified, and improved sampling and analytical procedures were developed. Evaluation of potential sources of error in high volume nitrate sampling showed that artifact nitrate formation on commonly used glass filter media was the most serious. Both laboratory and field results demonstrated that high purity quartz filters provide a significant improvement over glass filters and are easily substituted for glass filters in traditional high volume sampling equipment. A sensitive, accurate and rapid nitrate analytical procedure was developed using thermal decomposition of nitrate and chemiluminescent detection of the decomposition products. Ion chromatography was also investigated and found to be sensitive, accurate, reproducible and rapid. Ion chromatography has the added advantage of determining both nitrate and sulfate simultaneously.