Evaluation of the Laboratory Comparison Exercise for SO2, CO, O3, NO and NO2, 26th-29th September 2011

From the 26th to the 29th of June 2012 in Ispra (IT), 9 Laboratories of AQUILA (Network of European Air Quality Reference Laboratories) met for a laboratory comparison exercise to evaluate their proficiency in the analysis of inorganic gaseous pollutants covered by European Directive about air quality (SO2, CO, NO, NO2 and O3). The proficiency evaluation, where each participant’s bias was compared to two criteria, provides information on the current situation and capabilities to the European Commission and can be used by participants in their quality control system. On the basis of criteria imposed by the European Commission, 86% of the results reported by AQUILA laboratories were good both in terms of measured values and reported uncertainties. Another 13% of the results had good measured values, but the reported uncertainties were either too high (7.9%) or too small (5.4%). One value fell in category 5 (0.3%) and one in 7 (0.3%). Comparability of results among AQUILA participants at the highest concentration level, excluding outliers, is acceptable for all pollutants. Only CO measurement methods showed less satisfactory results at concentrations around 3micromol\mol.JRC.H.2-Air and Climat

Evaluation of the Laboratory Comparison Exercise for SO2, CO, O3, NO and NO2 30th September - 3rd October 2013 Ispra

Within the harmonization program of Air Quality monitoring in Europe ERLAP Laboratories are organizing Inter-Laboratory Comparison in the facility of Ispra (Italy). From the 30th of September to the 3rd of October 2013 in Ispra (IT), eight Laboratories of AQUILA (Network of European Air Quality Reference Laboratories) met for a laboratory comparison exercise to evaluate their proficiency in the analysis of inorganic gaseous pollutants covered by European Directive about air quality (SO2, CO, NO, NO2 and O3). The proficiency evaluation, where each participant’s bias was compared to two criteria, provides information on the current situation and capabilities to the European Commission and can be used by participants in their quality control system. On the basis of criteria imposed by the European Commission, 89.4% of the results reported by AQUILA laboratories were good both in terms of measured values and reported uncertainties. The rest 10.6% of the results had good measured values, but the reported uncertainties were either too high (7.3%) or too small (3.3%). Comparability of results among AQUILA participants at the highest concentration level, excluding outliers, is acceptable in for all pollutants measurements.JRC.H.2-Air and Climat

Evaluation of the Laboratory Comparison Exercise for SO2, CO, O3, NO and NO2, 3rd-6th October 2011

From the 03rd to the 06th of October 2011 in Ispra (IT), 9 Laboratories of AQUILA (Network of European Air Quality Reference Laboratories) met for a laboratory comparison exercise to evaluate their proficiency in the analysis of inorganic gaseous pollutants covered by European Directive about air quality (SO2, CO, NO, NO2 and O3). The proficiency evaluation, where each participant’s bias was compared to two criteria, provides information on the current situation and capabilities to the European Commission and can be used by participants in their quality control system. On the basis of criteria imposed by the European Commission, 78.5% of the results reported by AQUILA laboratories were good both in terms of measured values and reported uncertainties. Another 20.1% of the results had good measured values, but the reported uncertainties were either too high (12.5%) or too small (7.6%). Four values have been classified in category ‘5’ (1.3%). Comparability of results among AQUILA participants at the highest concentration level, excluding outliers, is acceptable in SO2, CO and O3 measurements while NO and NO2 measurement methods showed less satisfactory results.JRC.H.2-Air and Climat

Evaluation of the Laboratory Comparison Exercise for SO2, CO, O3, NO and NO2, 19th-22nd of May 2014 Ispra

Within the harmonization program of Air Quality monitoring in Europe the ERLAP Laboratory is organizing Inter-Laboratory Comparison in its facility of Ispra (Italy). From the 19th to the 22nd of May 2014 eight laboratories of AQUILA (Network of European Air Quality Reference Laboratories) met for a laboratory comparison exercise in Ispra (IT) to evaluate their proficiency in the analysis of inorganic gaseous pollutants (SO2, CO, NO, NO2 and O3) covered by the European Air Quality Directive 2008/50/EC. The proficiency evaluation, where each participant’s bias was compared to two criteria, provides information on compliance with Data Quality Objectives and measurement capabilities of the National Air Quality Laboratories to the European Commission and can be used by participants in their laboratory’s quality system. On the basis of criteria imposed by the European Directive, 81.8% of the results reported by AQUILA laboratories were good both in terms of measured values and reported uncertainties. Some results (16.6%) had good measured values, but the reported uncertainties were either too high (15.5%) or too small (1.1%). The majority of the values were satisfactory (98.1%), 0.7% were questionable and 1.1% was found unsatisfactory for the z’-score. Only 2.7% of the values were found “not ok” regarding the En-number. Three values for ozone were unsatisfactory for both z’-score and En-number. The comparability of results among AQUILA participants at the highest generated concentration levels is satisfactory for measurements of all pollutants beside ozone.JRC.H.2-Air and Climat

Evaluation of the Laboratory Comparison Exercise for SO2, CO, O3, NO and NO2, 7th-10th October 2013 Ispra

Within the harmonization program of Air Quality monitoring in Europe ERLAP Laboratories are organizing Inter-Laboratory Comparison in the facility of Ispra (Italy). From the 7th to the 10th of October 2013 in Ispra (IT), nine Laboratories of AQUILA (Network of European Air Quality Reference Laboratories) met for a laboratory comparison exercise to evaluate their proficiency in the analysis of inorganic gaseous pollutants. In order to cover the prescription of the European Directive about air quality these pollutants were measured: SO2, CO, NO, NO2 and O3. The proficiency evaluation, where each participant’s bias was compared to two criteria, provides information on the current situation and capabilities to the European Commission and can be used by participants in their quality control system. On the basis of criteria imposed by the European Commission, 86.8% of the results reported by AQUILA laboratories were good both in terms of measured values and reported uncertainties. Part of the results (12.5%) had good measured values, but the reported uncertainties were either too high (8.9%) or too small (3.6%).Only two values (0.8%) were found with unsatisfactory En number. Comparability of results among AQUILA participants at the highest concentration level, excluding outliers, is acceptable for all pollutants measurements.JRC.H.2-Air and Climat

Evaluation of the Laboratory Comparison Exercise for SO2, CO, O3, NO and NO2: 13-16 June 2016, Ispra

Eight Laboratories of AQUILA (Network of European Air Quality Reference Laboratories) met for a laboratory comparison exercise in Ispra (IT) to evaluate their proficiency in the analysis of inorganic gaseous pollutants (NO, NO2, SO2, CO and O3). On the basis of criteria adopted, 79.3% of the results reported by AQUILA laboratories were good both in terms of measured values and reported uncertainties. The rest of the results (21.1%) had good measured values, but the reported uncertainties were either too high (17.8%) or too small (2.9%).JRC.C.5-Air and Climat

A Quality Assurance and Control Program for PM2.5 and PM10 measurements in European Air Quality Monitoring Networks

To harmonize PM measurements in the European Union, the JRC together with the AQUILA Network of National Air Quality Reference Laboratories organized a PM QA/QC program. From 2006 – 2009, the JRC, equipped with a mobile laboratory, measured in 18 Member States, for a duration of two weeks each, PM10 and PM2.5 in parallel to measurement sites of local networks and to the National Reference Laboratories. The main goals of the project were to find out to which degree PM measurements performed in the Member States agree with the requirements of the relevant EU directive and how correction factors for automatic analyzers were applied.JRC.DDG.H.2-Climate change and air qualit

The Evaluation of the Intercomparison Exercise for SO2, CO, O3, NO and NO2 - April 2008

In April 2008 in Ispra (IT), 8 AQUILA (Network of European Air Quality Reference Laboratories) laboratories met at an intercomparison exercise to evaluate their proficiency in the analysis of inorganic gaseous pollutants covered by European Air Quality Directives (SO2, CO, NO, NO2 and O3). The proficiency evaluation, where each participant¿s bias was compared to two criteria, provides information on the current situation and capabilities to the European Commission and can be used by participants in their quality control system. In terms of criteria imposed by the European Commission, 80% of the results reported by AQUILA laboratories were good both in terms of measured values and reported uncertainties. Another 18% of the results had good measured values, but the reported uncertainties were either too small (7%) or too high (11%). The comparability of results among AQUILA participants is satisfactory for all studied measurement methods.JRC.H.4-Transport and air qualit

The Evaluation of the Intercomparison Exercise for SO2, CO, O3, NO and NO2 - 6 - 9 October 2008

From the 6th to the 9th of October 2008 in Ispra (IT), 7 AQUILA (Network of European Air Quality Reference Laboratories) and 2 laboratories of the World Health Organisations (WHO) Euro-Region met at an intercomparison exercise to evaluate their proficiency in the analysis of inorganic gaseous pollutants covered by European Air Quality Directives (SO2, CO, NO, NO2 and O3). The proficiency evaluation, where each participant¿s bias was compared to two criteria, provides information on the current situation and capabilities to the European Commission and can be used by participants in their quality control system. In terms of criteria imposed by the European Commission, 36% of the results reported by AQUILA laboratories were good both in terms of measured values and reported uncertainties. Another 56% of the results had good measured values, but the reported uncertainties were either too small (21%) or too high (35%). The comparability of results among AQUILA participants is satisfactory for O3, SO2, CO and NO measurement method, but the pollutant NO2 needs further improvements and harmonization programmes.JRC.H.4-Transport and air qualit

The Evaluation of the Intercomparison Exercise for SO2, CO, O3, NO and NO2 - 13 - 16 October 2008

From the 13th to the 16th of October 2008 in Ispra (IT), 5 AQUILA (Network of European Air Quality Reference Laboratories) and 2 laboratories of the World Health Organisations (WHO) Euro-Region met at an intercomparison exercise to evaluate their proficiency in the analysis of inorganic gaseous pollutants covered by European Air Quality Directives (SO2, CO, NO, NO2 and O3). The proficiency evaluation, where each participant¿s bias was compared to two criteria, provides information on the current situation and capabilities to the European Commission and can be used by participants in their quality control system. In terms of criteria imposed by the European Commission, 44% of the results reported by AQUILA laboratories were good both in terms of measured values and reported uncertainties. Another 56% of the results had good measured values, but the reported uncertainties were either too small (56%) or too high (2%). The comparability of results among AQUILA participants is satisfactory for O3, CO, NO2 and NO measurement method, but the pollutant SO2 needs further improvements and harmonization programmes.JRC.H.4-Transport and air qualit