• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.259-266
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• 2006

A dual-channel glass coil sampling technique was used to measure hourly formaldehyde concentration in the ambient air. The dual-channel coil sampling assembly consists of three parts; an all-pyrex 28-turn coil made of 0.2-cm internal diameter glass tubing for gas-liquid contact and scrubbing of soluble gases, an inlet section upstream of the coil for introducing sample air and scrubbing solution, and a widened glass section downstream of the coil for gas-liquid separation. The scrubbing solution used was a dilute aqueous DNPH (dinitrophenylhydrazine) solution. Hourly concentration of formaldehyde was determined at a Gwangju semi-urban site during two intensive studies between September and October using the dual channel glass-coil/DNPH sampling technique and HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) analysis. The mean concentration was 1.7($0.4{\sim}4.7$) and 3.0($0.5{\sim}19.1$) ppbv for the September and October intensives, respectively, which are considerably low, compared to those measured in polluted urban areas around the world including several urban areas of Korea. The diurnal variation showed significant increase of formaldehyde in the daytime suggesting the dominance of formation of formaldehyde due to photochemical oxidation of methane and other hydrocarbons. An increase in the formaldehyde sometimes in the night might be due to an increase in primary source, i.e. traffic emissions. It was also found that rapid increase in formaldehyde levels from 3.0 to 19.1 ppbv in the afternoon on October 20 was due to plumes from burning of agricultural wastes such as rice straw and stubble. It is expected from the measurement data that the constructed dual-channel glass coil sampling system can be utilized for measuring atmospheric concentration of the formaldehyde with high time resolution.

• Proceedings of the Korea Air Pollution Research Association Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.414-415
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• 2005