Application of the ECT9 protocol for radiocarbon-based source apportionment of carbonaceous aerosols

Carbonaceous aerosol is mainly composed of organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC). Both OC and EC originate from a variety of emission sources. Radiocarbon (C-14) analysis can be used to apportion bulk aerosol, OC, and EC into their sources. However, such analyses require the physical separation of OC and EC. Here, we apply of ECT9 protocol to physically isolate OC and EC for C-14 analysis and evaluate its effectiveness. Several reference materials are selected, including two pure OC (fossil adipic acid and contemporary sucrose), two pure EC (fossil regal black and C1150), and three complex materials containing contemporary and/or fossil OC and EC (rice char, NIST urban dust standards SRM1649a and SRM8785, i.e., fine fraction of resuspended SRM1649a on filters). The pure materials were measured for their OC, EC, and total carbon (TC) mass fractions and corresponding carbon isotopes to evaluate the uncertainty of the procedure. The average accuracy of TC mass, determined via volumetric injection of a sucrose solution, was approximately 5 %. Ratios of EC/TC and OC/TC were highly reproducible, with analytical precisions better than 2% for all reference materials, ranging in size from 20 to 100 mu g C. Consensus values were reached for all pure reference materials for both delta C-13 and fraction modern ((FC)-C-14), with an uncertainty of < 0.3% and approximately 5 %, respectively. The procedure introduced 1.3 +/- 0.6 mu g of extraneous carbon, an amount compatible to that of the Swiss_4S protocol. In addition, OC and EC were isolated from mixtures of pure contemporary OC (sucrose) with pure fossil EC (regal black) and fossil OC (adipic acid) with contemporary EC (rice char EC) to evaluate the effectiveness of OC and EC separation. Consensus (FC)-C-14 values were reached for all OC (similar to 5-30 mu g) and EC (similar to 10-60 mu g) fractions with an uncertainty of similar to 5% on average. We found that the ECT9 protocol efficiently isolates OC or EC from complex mixtures. Based on delta C-13 measurements, the average contribution of charred OC to EC is likely less than 3% when the OC loading amount is less than 30 mu g C. Charring was further assessed by evaluating thermograms of various materials, including aerosol samples collected in the Arctic and from tailpipes of gasoline or diesel engines. These data demonstrate that the ECT9 method effectively removes pyrolyzed OC. Thus, the ECT9 protocol, initially developed for concentration and stable isotope measurements of OC and EC, is suitable for C-14-based apportionment studies, including mu g C-sized samples from arctic environments.

Automated summary

Carbonaceous aerosol consists mainly of organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) from various emission sources. Radiocarbon (C-14) analysis is used to apportion OC and EC into their sources, requiring physical separation. The ECT9 protocol effectively isolates OC and EC for C-14 analysis, with high reproducibility and low uncertainty in measurements.