Carbonaceous Aerosol Monitoring & Research
Air pollution from fine particles in the air is estimated to cause about 800,000 premature deaths each year, mainly from heart and lung diseases. Some types of particles are known to be more harmful than others, and a single risk factor of PM2.5 to assess their health impacts is insufficient. One major concern is carbonaceous aerosols, which make up a large portion of aerosol pollution and are linked to health impacts.
Carbonaceous aerosols also affect the climate. Black carbon (BC), a key component, absorbs sunlight and traps heat, making it the second biggest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide. In regions like Asia, high levels of these particles have formed large “brown clouds” that block sunlight, warm the air, and disrupt rainfall patterns. The IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6, 2021) notes that BC is the second-largest contributor to positive radiative forcing after carbon dioxide among anthropogenic emissions.
Understanding and controlling carbonaceous aerosols is therefore crucial for the more integrated understanding of public health and climate change effects of air pollution. WHO (2021) recommends monitoring BC where feasible, as it helps identify pollution sources (e.g., diesel engines, biomass burning) and evaluate progress in reducing combustion emissions.
AE36s AETHALOMETER®
The Aethalometer is the most widely used filter photometer capable of measuring the light-absorbing properties of aerosol particles. The Aethalometer AE36s provides real-time monitoring, quantitation and speciation of Black and Brown Carbon aerosols.
The new AE36s is built upon the existing well-proven and rugged design. Two new wavelengths, 340 and 400 nm, were added for advanced characterization of light-absorbing organic aerosol fraction, the so-called Brown Carbon (BrC).
With improved design, AE36s Aethalometer is insensitive to RH changes, and achieves lower LOD, and is made to run unattended for a very long time thanks to the new self-cleaning procedure, 2-times longer filter tape, and the new RAS (Remote Access System) module in the updated CAAT software.
The real-time analysis is performed at 9 optical wavelengths from the ultraviolet (340 nm) to the near- infrared (950 nm), which enables source apportionment to separate traffic or diesel exhaust from biomass burning (woodsmoke, forest fires, cook stoves...), and Brown Carbon analysis.
Carbonaceous Aerosol Speciation System - CASS
The Magee Scientific Carbonaceous Aerosol Speciation System (CASS), is a combined unit of a TCA08 Total Carbon Analyzer, and the Magee Scientific Aethalometer® AE33, providing a revolutionary scientific instrument that measures the Total Carbon Content (“TC”), the Elemental Carbon content (EC), the Organic Carbon content (OC) and the Black Carbon content (BC) of suspended aerosol particles in near-Real Time.
Key advantages are:
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Real-time data provides info on source emission patterns that is impossible to determine from 24- hour filters.
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Real-time data is available immediately on-line; not weeks later. This is very important for ‘extreme events’ such as wildfire smoke.
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Real-time instruments are much more economical to operate, than manual procedures at stations and in labs which require many people.
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Real-time instruments are more sensitive (lower Limit Of Detection) than the filter analyses.
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No carrier gas is required for its operation.
DRI Series 2 Multiwavelength Thermal/Optical Carbon Analyser
DRI 2015 Series 2 is the most advanced instrument in the world for the thermal analysis of the carbonaceous content of aerosol samples collected on filters, compatible with EUSAAR2, IMPROVE_A, NIOSH 5040 or any other thermal protocol,
Model 2015 measures reflected (R) and transmitted (T) intensities at 7 wavelengths of 405, 445, 532, 635, 780, 808, and 980 nm.
The additional optical information can be used to quantify the Brown Carbon (BrC) concentration in each sample.