• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.305-319
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• 2016

This study was carried out to evaluate the performance of two sampling methods, i.e., adsorbent tubes and canisters, for the measurement of ambient volatile organic compounds (VOCs). A total of 24 target VOCs were selected from a list of 48 priority hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) in Korea. The two sampling methods were investigated with a wide range of performance criteria such as repeatability, linearity, and lower detection limits. In addition, mean relative errors (MRE) and mean duplicate precisions (MDP) were estimated by inter-lab comparison studies for duplicate field samples. Precisions for the two methods appeared to be well comparable with the performance criteria recommended by USEPA TO-15 and TO-17 for canister and adsorbent methods, respectively. Correlations and variations between the VOCs concentrations determined by the two methods were generally good in most cases. However, MREs and MDPs for individual VOCs appeared to be widely ranged, depending on each VOC. This implies that the two methods have its own advantages and disadvantages in determining a variety of VOCs in ambient air, and neither of which has absolute superiority. Finally, 9 of 24 VOCs were found to be difficult to determine by either methods due to their unstability in a canister, and lack of appropriate standard materials. Thus, it is suggested that development of measurement methods for such unstable VOCs is an urgent task from a viewpoint of HAPs management.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.663-677
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• 2003

The concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the ambient air were measured at three sites (Samil-dong, SRO and EFMC) in Yeosu industrial complex during September 2000 to August 2001. Air samples were collected for 24 hours in Silicocan canister (6l) with constant flow samplers every 6 days and analyzed using a cryogenic preconcentration system and a GC/MS. At each site, we identified 35 species known as on both the carcinogenic and mutagenicity by the EPA US (TO-14 manual). No relationship was found between YOCs concentration at three sampling points. Furthermore, the result shows that there appears to be a variety distribution of the concentration. BTX, vinyl chloride and high concentrations of 1,2-dichloroethane were observed at the sampling sites. Especially, high concentration of toxic VOCs, such as vinyl chloride, chloroform, 1,2-dichloroethane and benzene were shown at environmental facilities management cooperation (EMFC) site. They seem to be emitted from the facility of wastewater treatment in Yeosu industrial complex. It was difficult to tell the seasonal variation of total VOCs concentration. Nevertheless, the concentration in winter was typically higher than in summer The concentrations of toxic VOCs contents in Yeosu industrial complex were generally lower than those in Ulsan complex, although those were similar or less than in Seoul and Daegu. Whereas, toluene and styrene emitted from Yeosu industrial complex were higher than those of Edmonton industrial complex in Canada. Especially, toluene was third times higher than those observed from Texas, USA.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.163-176
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• 1998

In this study, airborne particle samples were obtained to determine the concentrations of particulate air pollutants in indoor and outdoor air of public facilities in Taegu area. Total of 12 public facilities, regulated by the Public Sanitary Law, were selected as sampling sites, which include three underground arcades, one railway and two bus terminals, three general hospitals, and three department stores. In each place, sampling was carried out seasonally during the period of October 1994 to July 1995, and four samples per each site per season were collected both indoors and outdoors simultaneously. After determination of suspended particulate matter (SPM) mass concentrations, the particle samples were divided into two parts for subsequent chemical analysis: one for the analysis of trace elements and the other for water soluble ions. Seasonal levels of SPM appeared to be the highest in spring and the lowest in summer both indoors and outdoors, while locational variations of highest in statioyterminals, and lowest in department stores . SPM concentrations indoors and outdoors did not show any significant differences each other in most places . However, there were significant correlations between indoor and outdoor levels of SPM and other chemical species . These results indicates that indoor SPM levels are likely to be significantly affected by outdoor sources in many places. The most significant source of SPM was estimated to be the resuspension of soil/road dust both indoors and outdoors . The concentrations of toxic heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Cr, Cu) in underground arcades appeared to be very much lower than the established air quality guidelines for underground environments. In addition, it is likely that micro-environmental parameters such as temperature, humidity, and air velocity, play a less significant role than outdoor air quality as a factor affecting the levels of particulate pollutants in indoor environments of public facilities in Taegu area.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.343-360
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• 1998

In this study, comprehensive air quality monitoring was undertaken with a variety of objectives to collect data on the levels of various indoor and ambient air quality parameters in the urban areas of Seoul and Taegu. The sampling sites were comprised of six offices, six residences and six restaurants in each city. The ambient air adjacent to the indoor sites was also simultaneously sampled for the same constituents. The sampling was conducted in two phases: summer of 1994 and winter of 1994/95. A range of air quality parameters were measured simultaneously, which include RSP, CO, COB, NOB, a range of VOC, airborne microbials, temperature, and relative humidity. The indoor and ambient levels of the pollutants measured in this study varied widely between the three types of environments studied. Comparison of median values for the three groups revealed that restaurants had higher indoor levels of most pollutants than homes or offices. There was also a clear pattern of the indoor levels of target pollutants being higher than those outdoors, particularly in restaurants. Concentrations of CO and most of the VOC were found to be significantly higher in the commercial districts, indicating the influence of vehicle exhaust emissions. A very wide range of VOC levels was documented in this study. Although median indoorloutdoor ratios indicated a generally increasing level of VOC indoors when compared to those outdoors, no statistically significant differences were found between indoor and outdoor VOC levels in homes and offices, implying the importance of ambient air quality in determining the quality of indoor air for homes and offices in urban areas. In addition, there was a general pattern of increasing concentrations from summer to winter, and similarly from outdoor to indoor air for nearly all target compounds. The seasonal differences in median levels were very clearly seen for fuel combustion related pollutants such as RSP, CO and VOC, this being attributed to the effects of increased fuel consumption during the cold season and to meteorological factors.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.53-61
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• 1987

Automatic and manual rain smaplers wre installed at the roof of National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER), and the rain sampling and measurement were conducted during the period April to August 31, 1987. The rain sampling and measurement were carried out in the following manners: The 1st : Acidity and conductivity were measured entirely by automatic rain sampler (continuous measurement) The 2nd : Acidity and conductivity wrer measured in the laboratory with the sample that was taken out of automatic rain sampler. The 3rd : Acidity and conductivity were measured in the laboratory with the sample that was taken out of manual rain sampler. Afterwards, those different measurement values were compared each other and the following conclusions were obtained: 1) The pH of the continous measurement by the automatic sampler was lower than that of the laboratory measurement, and it was reversed in case of the conductivity. 2) The significance was recognized at 5% risk ratio for the population mean of difference of the measurement values of the pH and conductivity from both samples. 3) The significance was not recognized at 5% risk ratio by the analysis of variance by one way layout for the pH and conductivity. 4) The significance was recognized at 5% risk ratio by the analysis of variance by two way layouts for the pH conductivity. 5) The significance was recognized at 5% rrisk ratio for the differences of the pH values obtained by oboth samplers, and no significance was recognized for conductivity. 6) In comparison of the measurement values from the two samplers were shown a good correlation for pH; correlation coefficient (r) = 0.63, and regression equation Y = 0.53X + 2.78. For conductivity, the correlation was also excellent; correlation coefficient (r) = 0.53 and regression equation Y = 0.63X + 5.65.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.16-29
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• 2011

The cyclone/annular denuder system/filter pack sampling system (ADS) was used to collect data set of the acidic air pollutants in the vicinity of industrial complexes in Gwangyang. The data set was collected during sixty different days with 24 hour sampling period from January 8, 2008 through November 12, 2008. The annual mean concentrations of $HNO_3$, $HNO_2$, $SO_2$ and $NH_3$ in the gas phase were 1.12, 1.40, 10.2 and 1.28 ${\mu}g/m^3$, respectively. The annual mean concentrations of $PM_{2.5}$ ($d_p$<2.5 ${\mu}m$), $SO_4^{2-}$, $NO_3^-$, and $NH_4^+$ in the particulate phase were 29.2, 8.25, 3.30 and 3.42${\mu}g/m^3$, respectively. $HNO_3$ and $NH_3$ exhibited higher concentrations during the summer, while $HNO_2$, $PM_{2.5}$, $NO_3^-$ and $NH_4^+$ were higher during the winter. The highest level of $SO_2$ was, unlikely, observed in the summer and $SO_4^{2-}$ was not showed seasonal variation. $SO_4^{2-}$, $NO_3^-$, and $NH_4^+$ accounted for 49~57% of the $PM_{2.5}$ mass. $SO_4^{2-}$ was the most abundant component, which constituted 23~40% of $PM_{2.5}$. High correlations were found among $PM_{2.5}$, $SO_4^{2-}$, $NO_3^-$, and $NH_4^+$.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.333-343
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• 1997

The cyclone/annular denuder system/filter pack sampling system (ADS) was used to collect the acidic air pollutants in Chongju city. The data set was collected on fifty -eight different days with 24 hour sampling period from October 27, 1995 through August 25, 1996. The chemical species measured were HN $O_3$, HN $O_2$, S $O_2$ and N $H_3$ in the gas phase, and PM2.5( $d_{p}$ ＜2.5 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$), S $O_4$$^{2-}$, N $O_3$$^{[-10]}$ and N $H_4$$^{+}$ in the Particulate Phase. Mean concentrations measured for this study were: 0.45 $\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥ for HN $O_3$, 3.39 $\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥ for HN $O_2$, 26.4 $\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥ for S $O_2$, 3.83$\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥ for N $H_3$, 44.2 $\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥ for P $M_{2.5}$, 8.22 $\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥ for S $O_4$$^{2-}$, 3.63 $\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥ for N $O_3$$^{[-10]}$ , and 2.84 $\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥ for N $H_4$$^{- }$. HN $O_3$ and N $H_3$ were higher during the summer. However, HN $O_2$ and S $O_2$ were higher during the fall and winter. P $M_{2.5}$ , S $O_4$/ sup 2-/ and N $H_4$$^{+}$ were not showed seasonal variations, but N $O_3$$^{[-10]}$ was higher in the winter.ter.r.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.734-745
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• 2011

In this article, we reviewed the monitoring status of hazardous VOC in ambinet air in Korea and some developed countries such as USA, Japan, and UK. In many countries, two types of VOC monitoring stations are being operated, i.e., for hazardous VOC and photochemical VOC. Each country has different target VOC but all includes benzene. Korea, Japan, and UK have a national ambient air quality standard for benzene, but no national standard has been established in the USA. For sampling of the hazardous VOC, the adsorbent method is adopted in Korea and UK, while the canister method is used in the USA. Both of adsorbent and canister methods are used in Japan. USA and UK have only non-automatic method to measure the hazardous VOC, and the individual samples are being sent to their national laboratories for integrated analysis. On the other hand, Korea and Japan have automatic and nonautomatic methods to measure the hazardous VOC. Local governments or regional environmental agencies in Korea and Japan have the authorization for the sampling and analysis of VOC. According to a field study to evaluate the performance of automatic VOC monitoring system, controlling the moisture in the air sample was identified as the most important problem. However, careful attention must be given to using a moisture removing device such as Nafyon dryer, because of unexpected artifacts formation. In order to have reliable data, it is highly recommended not only to use internal standards, but to use appropriate hydrophobic adsorbents as a cold trap in any automatic on-line VOC monitoring system.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.43-54
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• 2008

Management and control of ammonia at the sources and ambient largely depend on sampling and measurement techniques. Good sampling and measurement techniques provide high quality data. The main purpose of the study is compare the analytical characteristics of the Indolphenol method which is one of the standard method in Korea with automatic analyzers for continued measuring gaseous ammonia. For comparison with other analytical methods, the verification test was designed to evaluate performance parameters; linearity, absorption efficiency, reproducibility and repeatability test, accuracy, and response time test. $R^2$ of calibration curve using IPM and CLM was very high (value is 1.000), but for EcSM $R^2$ value was estimated to be lower than IPM and CLM (as 0.991). The RSD of the CLM ranged from 0.1 to 2.3% over the nine concentration levels measured, %Ds was 0.1 to 10.7%, and average RA over all the measurements was 3.3%. The RSD of IPM and EcSM was ranged from 1.0 to 8.1, 3.9 to 14.0 respectively, and average RA were 8.71, 4.9% respectively. Rise in response times of EcSM was estimated to be 1 minute. It is found to be more sensitive than response time (which ranged from 2 to 9 minute) of CLM. For ammonia concentration measured using the IPM and the CLM from the same ammonia source, linear regression of IPM versus CLM show a slope of 0.805, an intercept of 637 ppb, and $R^2$ of 0.868.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.171-176
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• 1999

To estimate the residence times of aerosols in air, the activities of $^{210}Pb$ and $^{210}Po$ in aerosols were measured at 4 sites in Pusan. All aerosol samples were collected by a high volume air sampler from January to October 1996. The activities $^{210}Pb$ and $^{210}Po$ in Pusan were varied from 11.77 to 67.57 dpm/1000$m^3$ and from 2.63 to 15.91 dpm/1000$m^3$, respectively. The mean activities were 34.62 dpm/1000$m^3$ for $^{210}Pb$ and 8.24 dpm/1000$m^3$ for $^{210}Po$. The highest values of the activities of $^{210}Pb$ and $^{210}Po$ were appeared at P3 site and the lowest values at P4 site. During the sampling period, the trends of the activities of $^{210}Po$ and $^{210}Pb$ were similar to total suspended particulate matter(TSP) concentrations. The mean residence times of atmospheric aerosols calculated from $^{210}Po$/$^{210}Pb$ activity ratio was about 60~80 days in Pusan. The longest residence time of atmospheric aerosols was in January because of the lack of rainout and washout, but the shortest residence time was in August, largely due to scavenging effect by frequent rains. The activities of $^{210}Po$ and $^{210}Pb$ in atmospheric aerosols were different in time and space, which seems that the distribution of $^{210}Po$ and $^{210}Pb$ activities and scavenging processes in air may be controlled by the local and meteorological conditions.