Earozoru Kenkyu
Online ISSN : 1881-543X
Print ISSN : 0912-2834
ISSN-L : 0912-2834
Study on Transport and Distribution of Aerosols and Air Pollutants in East Asia
Source Apportioning of PAH in Environmental Samples Using Compound Specific and Compound Class-Specific Radiocarbon Analysis
Masao UCHIDAHidetoshi KUMATA
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JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS

2014 Volume 29 Issue S1 Pages s133-s141

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Abstract

Atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), accounting for most (35–82%) of the total mutagenic activity of ambient aerosols, originate mostly from the incomplete combustion of carbon based fuels. Hence, reduction of PAHs emissions into the atmosphere is essential for effective air quality control, which requires reliable source apportionment. In certain situations molecular fingerprinting and/or stable carbon isotope ratios (δ13C) of individual PAHs can provide insight about the contributions from specific sources. Unfortunately, the broad utility of both approaches is limited to source apportionment between combustion sources. It is because deviations in source end-member values, arising both from carbon source variation and from differences in the conditions of PAHs formation, sometimes exceed differences between source end-member values. The 5730 year half-life of 14C makes it an ideal tracer for identifying combustion products derived from fossil fuels (14C-free; Δ14C=-1000‰) versus those from modern biomass (contemporary 14C; Δ14C>0‰). The recently developed preparative capillary gas chromatograph (PCGC) system and micro-scale 14C analysis by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) made compound specific radiocarbon analysis (CSRA) applicable to organic compounds existing in environmental samples. This review introduces recent progress in development of ultra micro-scale14C AMS analyses and compiles results from PAHs source apportionment studies using CSRA and/or compound class-specific radiocarbon analysis (CCSRA).

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© 2014 Japan Association of Aerosol Science and Technology
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