Abstract
A standard method was investigated for the measurement of metal elements (Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Pb) in aerosol by X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF). A low volume samplers was used with membran filters (Millipore type AA and RA) and high volume sampler with quartz fiber filters (Pallflex 2500 QAST) for the collection of atmospheric aerosol. Trace metals in aerosols were measured by XRF by one day sampling due to lower blank values of these filters. A noticeable analytical error was occurred in the measurement of trace metals such as Mn and Zn with out background correction. Therefore, it was necessary to take background correction into consideration for trace metals measurement by XRF.
Two kinds of coprecipitation standards, DDTC (diethyl dithiocarbamate), iron hydroxide and the thin film standards (MICROMATTER Co.) were used for XRF analysis. No significant differences in X-ray intensity for each element among these three standards was not observed. However, the thin film standard was excellent in durability, so that a variation of its X-ray intensity at each element was about 1% during one year.
The same aerosol samples collected in Kawasaki were analyzed by XRF method at five laboratories by the standard method described in this paper for the evaluation of this method. Analytical results at these five labolatories almost agreed, and 0.92-1.07 ratios between analytical values by ICP spectrochemical methods and XRF were also observed except 0.88-1.24 for Ni.
