High resolution chromatographic techniques for the evaluation of atmospheric pollutants

✍ Scribed by Liberti, A. ;Ciccioli, P.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1986
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 800 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0935-6304
• DOI: 10.1002/jhrc.1240090902

✦ Synopsis

The use of high resolution chromatographic techniques for the determination of species of great importance in atmospheric pollution is critically reviewed. Attention has been focused on those pollutants recently recognized to be responsible for biological activity of particulate matter, acid deposition, and photochemical smog generation. The unique contribution made by capillary GC to the solution of environmental problems is demonstrated by the results obtained in the identification of several nitrofluoranthene/pyrene isomers in urban dust, industrial emissions, and automobile exhaust and by the selective determination of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin in fly-ash emitted from urban incinerators. Also organic components dissolved in rain-water can beanalyzed by capillary chromatography after sample enrichment on traps filled with solid sorbents. The recent availability of sampling procedures suitable for the collection of gaseous species which play an important role in acid deposition makes possible their determination by chromatographic techniques. Inorganic acids, sampled through high efficiency annular denuders to obtain discrimination between gaseous species and aerosols, can be determined by ion chromatography. Peroxyacyl nitrates, relevant to photochemical pollution, can be determined by GC combined with electron capture detection. New fields of application for high resolution chromatography are discussed.