Calibration of Aerosol Instruments in a Wide Particle Size Range

Aerosol particles have an important role in many scientific and technological issues. Aerosol particle measurements are widely applied for example in clean room technology, in atmospheric measurements and in studying the Particulate Matter (PM) emissions from traffic and industry. This thesis concentrates on developing new aerosol instrumentation both for measurement and calibration purposes. On the measurement side, the driving force has been the urgent need for instruments that have a fast time response and are able to measure nanoparticles with reasonable accuracy. In this respect, the nanoparticle resolution of the Electrical Low Pressure Impactor (ELPI, Dekati Ltd.) was improved by designing, manufacturing and implementing a new impactor stage (cutpoint 16.7 nm) to the ELPI cascade impactor. The new impactor stage divides the particle size range measured by the filter stage (7–30 nm) between the new stage and the filter stage. As a result, the nanoparticle resolution of the ELPI was improved. This made the device more suitable, for example, for vehicle engine emission measurements. The new stage is currently being sold as a part of the new ELPI+ instrument, which is an improved version of the original ELPI. On the calibration side, the main driving force behind aerosol instrument development has been the lack of calibration standards available for calibrating the number concentration responses of the instruments in the sub-micrometer size range. In this size range, the most common method to calibrate an instrument is to use a differential mobility analyzer (DMA), for obtaining monodisperse particles for the calibration, and a Faraday cup aerosol electrometer (FCAE), for measuring the reference number concentration. Even though, in principle, the DMA allows size selection up to 1 μm in diameter, the calibrations are usually limited to particles below 100 nm because of the multiple charging of particles. To solve this problem, a new concept for realizing a number concentration standard in a wide size range was introduced. In this concept, a novel principle of first charging nanoparticles and growing them afterwards to much larger particle sizes is applied for the generation of the singly charged, fairly monodisperse calibration aerosols. Combined with an FCAE this concept, ideally, solves the calibration issues in the sub-micrometer size range. In order to test this concept, a new instrument called the Single Charged Aerosol Reference (SCAR) was designed, built and tested. In the first experiments, the SCAR was verified to produce singly charged, fairly monodisperse particle size distributions between 10 and 500 nm in diameter and to be suitable for calibration purposes. As a result of a rigorous validation process, true SI-traceability was obtained for the particle number concentration output of the SCAR, and the calibration of other instruments on the absolute scale became possible. As a final necessary step in becoming an internationally recognized number concentration standard, an intercomparison between the SCAR and two number concentration standards of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology was conducted in Japan. The results obtained with the three standards were found to agree within the uncertainty limits at all overlapping particle sizes. As a consequence, a new primary number concentration standard, which enables accurate calibration of various instruments in the whole submicrometer range, was established

Measuring soot particles from automotive exhaust emissions

The European Metrology Research Programme participating countries and the European Union jointly fund a three year project to address the need of the automotive industry for a metrological sound base for exhaust measurements. The collaborative work on particle emissions involves five European National Metrology Institutes, the Tampere University of Technology, the Joint Research Centre for Energy and Transport and the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research. On one hand, a particle number and size standard for soot particles is aimed for. Eventually this will allow the partners to provide accurate and comparable calibrations of measurement instruments for the type approval of Euro 5b and Euro 6 vehicles. Calibration aerosols of combustion particles, silver and graphite proof partially suitable. Yet, a consensus choice together with instrument manufactures is pending as the aerosol choice considerably affects the number concentration measurement. Furthermore, the consortium issued consistent requirements for novel measuring instruments foreseen to replace today’s opacimeters in regulatory periodic emission controls of soot and compared them with European legislative requirements. Four partners are conducting a metrological validation of prototype measurement instruments. The novel instruments base on light scattering, electrical, ionisation chamber and diffusion charging sensors and will be tested at low and high particle concentrations. Results shall allow manufacturers to further improve their instruments to comply with legal requirements

Added Value of Vaisala AQT530 Sensors as a Part of a Sensor Network for Comprehensive Air Quality Monitoring

Poor air quality influences the quality of life in the urban environment. The regulatory observation stations provide the backbone for the city administration to monitor urban air quality. Recently a suite of cost-effective air quality sensors has emerged to provide novel insights into the spatio-temporal variability of aerosol particles and trace gases. Particularly in low concentrations these sensors might suffer from issues related e.g., to high detection limits, concentration drifts and interdependency between the observed trace gases and environmental parameters. In this study we characterize the optical particle detector used in AQT530 (Vaisala Ltd.) air quality sensor in the laboratory. We perform a measurement campaign with a network of AQT530 sensors in Helsinki, Finland in 2020-2021 and present a long-term performance evaluation of five sensors for particulate (PM10, PM2.5) and gaseous (NO2, NO, CO, O-3) components during a half-year co-location study with reference instruments at an urban traffic site. Furthermore, short-term (3-5 weeks) co-location tests were performed for 25 sensors to provide sensor-specific correction equations for the fine-tuning of selected pollutants in the sensor network. We showcase the added value of the verified network of 25 sensor units to address the spatial variability of trace gases and aerosol mass concentrations in an urban environment. The analysis assesses road and harbor traffic monitoring, local construction dust monitoring, aerosol concentrations from fireworks, impact of sub-urban small scale wood combustion and detection of long-range transport episodes on a city scale. Our analysis illustrates that the calibrated network of Vaisala AQT530 air quality sensors provide new insights into the spatio-temporal variability of air pollution within the city. This information is beneficial to, for example, optimization of road dust and construction dust emission control as well as provides data to tackle air quality problems arising from traffic exhaust and localized wood combustion emissions in the residential areas.Peer reviewe

Calibration of Aerosol Instruments in a Wide Particle Size Range

Aerosol particles have an important role in many scientific and technological issues. Aerosol particle measurements are widely applied for example in clean room technology, in atmospheric measurements and in studying the Particulate Matter (PM) emissions from traffic and industry. This thesis concentrates on developing new aerosol instrumentation both for measurement and calibration purposes. On the measurement side, the driving force has been the urgent need for instruments that have a fast time response and are able to measure nanoparticles with reasonable accuracy. In this respect, the nanoparticle resolution of the Electrical Low Pressure Impactor (ELPI, Dekati Ltd.) was improved by designing, manufacturing and implementing a new impactor stage (cutpoint 16.7 nm) to the ELPI cascade impactor. The new impactor stage divides the particle size range measured by the filter stage (7–30 nm) between the new stage and the filter stage. As a result, the nanoparticle resolution of the ELPI was improved. This made the device more suitable, for example, for vehicle engine emission measurements. The new stage is currently being sold as a part of the new ELPI+ instrument, which is an improved version of the original ELPI. On the calibration side, the main driving force behind aerosol instrument development has been the lack of calibration standards available for calibrating the number concentration responses of the instruments in the sub-micrometer size range. In this size range, the most common method to calibrate an instrument is to use a differential mobility analyzer (DMA), for obtaining monodisperse particles for the calibration, and a Faraday cup aerosol electrometer (FCAE), for measuring the reference number concentration. Even though, in principle, the DMA allows size selection up to 1 μm in diameter, the calibrations are usually limited to particles below 100 nm because of the multiple charging of particles. To solve this problem, a new concept for realizing a number concentration standard in a wide size range was introduced. In this concept, a novel principle of first charging nanoparticles and growing them afterwards to much larger particle sizes is applied for the generation of the singly charged, fairly monodisperse calibration aerosols. Combined with an FCAE this concept, ideally, solves the calibration issues in the sub-micrometer size range. In order to test this concept, a new instrument called the Single Charged Aerosol Reference (SCAR) was designed, built and tested. In the first experiments, the SCAR was verified to produce singly charged, fairly monodisperse particle size distributions between 10 and 500 nm in diameter and to be suitable for calibration purposes. As a result of a rigorous validation process, true SI-traceability was obtained for the particle number concentration output of the SCAR, and the calibration of other instruments on the absolute scale became possible. As a final necessary step in becoming an internationally recognized number concentration standard, an intercomparison between the SCAR and two number concentration standards of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology was conducted in Japan. The results obtained with the three standards were found to agree within the uncertainty limits at all overlapping particle sizes. As a consequence, a new primary number concentration standard, which enables accurate calibration of various instruments in the whole submicrometer range, was established

Improving the signal-to-noise ratio of Faraday cup aerosol electrometer based aerosol instrument calibrations

<p>This study introduces a new bipolar measurement routine for particle number concentration calibrations. In the new routine, singly-charged particles of opposite polarities are measured sequentially with a Faraday cup aerosol electrometer (FCAE). We compared the bipolar routine to the traditional FCAE routine, where particle signal and electrometer offset are measured in turns, by calibrating a single CPC on a wide particle number concentration range (from 1000 to 77,000 cm⁻³) with both routines. By increasing the signal-to-noise ratio, the bipolar routine decreases the type A uncertainty of the calibration especially at low particle concentrations. In practice, the new routine enables shortening the measurement times by 80% at the lowest particle concentrations which, in practice, corresponds to hours.</p> <p>Copyright © 2016 American Association for Aerosol Research</p

Study of the PM Gas-Phase Filter Artifact Using a Setup for Mixing Diesel-Like Soot and Hydrocarbons

The filter artifact is a significant source of error in gravimetric measurements of particulate matter (PM) exhaust. However, only a few studies on the subject exist. Results from these studies show a large discrepancy mainly because the experiments were performed using real diesel vehicle exhaust with varying exhaust composition. In this study, a setup for mixing diesel-like soot and hydrocarbon vapor was constructed for generating a stable exhaust aerosol with adjustable composition. The particle size distribution of the diesel-fueled soot generator (GMD [geometric mean diameter] adjustable between 27 and 164 nm) was found to represent “real” exhaust particulate emission. This setup was applied for studying the filter artifact on Teflon-coated glass fiber filters using pentadecane as the hydrocarbon vapor. Experiments were performed using particle and hydrocarbon concentrations of 130–700 μg/m3 and 10–12 ppm, respectively. It was found that the particle concentration of the aerosol affects the filter artifact. At lower particle concentrations, more hydrocarbon adsorption was detected. In the absence of particles, the adsorption was highest. Furthermore, filter soot load, corresponding to 0.13%–0.66% of the clean filter mass, was found to affect adsorption. Sooty filters adsorbed less vapor than clean filters. However, increasing the soot load resulted in more adsorption. Moreover, it was found that the backup filter serves as a reasonable estimate of the filter artifact only for low particle concentrations and filter soot loads. These results indicate that the filter soot load is an important parameter influencing the filter artifact, and therefore, it should be considered when performing gravimetric sampling. The setup was proven to be a unique tool for quantitative studies of the filter artifact