The methods of sampling, carrying and keeping, and the instruments for the measurement of atmospheric peroxyacyl nitrates (PANs), such as peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) and peroxypropionyl nitrate (PPN), were developed for field studies at remote sites and by aircraft. PANs in the air were collected by the U-shape Teflon trap [tube (30 cm L, 2 mm I.D.) packed with ca. 0.2g Teflon beads] chilled with dryice-ethanol or pulverized-dryice. The sampling duration was 10 to 120 minutes, depending on the sampling volume (100 to 1000 m
l) and the purposes.
Two kinds of collecting techniques were developed for the sampling of PANs in remote sites. One was composed with the U-shape trap attached to a Teflon four-way valve and a 200 m
l glass syringe mounted vertically. This is adequate to th temporary sampling without any electric power sources. Another was a completely automated instrument for continuous sampling throughout a day. This is composed of 10 sampling lines connected to the U-shape traps which are changed in cycles with electric solenoid valves.
A reliable sampling instrument was developed for the survey by aircraft. This is composed of the trap attached to the valve, a mass flow control system, two suction tanks (volume; 1
l), an evacuation pump, electric recorder for monitoring of the sampling flow rate and the temperature and pressure of the tanks, and the timers for purging and sampling time.
The decay rate of PANs in the chilled sampling traps was below 1.5%/day, and the sublimation rate of dryice is ca. 70g/hour in the plastic box of thick walls. The keeping technique of PANs samples in the traps chilled by pulverized-dryice enabled us to carry them from remote sites to the central laboratory by aircraft or by commercial dilivery systems without any virtual decay of PANs. PANs were analyzed by GC with ECD-(PANs Absorbent)-ECD at the laboratory. The detection limit of PANs was ca. 2 ppt (v/v) for 500m/ sample.
The developed methods were used for the field studies at four remote islands and by an aircraft since 1991. PAN and PPN were detected in most of over 500 samples. Mean concentrations of PAN and PPN in the island and in lower troposhere over Yellow Sea to Japan Sea were 0.1-0.4 ppb (v/v) and 0.01-0.03 ppb, respectively. Good correlation between PAN and PPN at the each point was observed, and PPN was found to be 5-9% of PAN.
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