Determination of water-soluble inorganic and organic species in atmospheric fine particulate matter

The use of ion chromatography (IC) in conjunction with ultrasonic extraction is described for the routine analysis of water-soluble major inorganic ions and organic acids in atmospheric fine particles (PM2.5). Both the extraction method and the IC analysis were validated using NIST SRM 1648 (urban particulate matter). In addition, the reliability of the IC method was established by intercomparison of results obtained with those from suitable alternative analytical techniques (atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), proton-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) spectrometry, and UV–Visible spectrophotometry). The validated IC method was successfully applied for field monitoring of PM2.5 particles collected in Singapore over an extended period of time. The IC analysis revealed that the concentrations of individual ions were in the order, SO42− > NH4+ > NO3− > Na+ > K+ > Cl−, respectively. Among the major ionic components, SO42− contributed 50% to the measured water-soluble aerosol mass followed by NH4+ (16.5%) and NO3− (9.0%). The cations Na+, K+, Mg2+, and Ca2+ accounted for 24% of the total water-soluble mass. The IC analysis was performed to quantify the organic acids, which typically account for a small fraction of water-soluble organic compounds in PM2.5. Oxalate was found to be the dominant species among the organic acids measured in this work.