• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.237-250
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• 2013

At Gosan ABC superstation in Jeju Island, we measured organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) in $PM_{2.5}$ from October 2009 to June 2010 using a Sunset Laboratory Model-4 Semi-Continuous OC/EC Field Analyzer. It employs TOT (Thermal-Optical-Transmittance) method with NIOSH 5040 protocol and enables to continuously monitor OC and EC concentrations with 1-hour time resolution. The mean values of OC and EC for the entire period of measurements were $2.1{\pm}1.4{\mu}g/m^3$ and $0.7{\pm}0.6{\mu}g/m^3$, respectively. The OC/EC ratio was 3 and EC accounted $25{\pm}2.1%$ of total carbon (TC, TC=OC+EC). Although OC and EC showed similar trend in seasonal variation, the ratio of OC to EC was the highest in early summer when temperature was the highest and the air was affected by biomass burning in the southern part of China. In winter, the high OC and EC concentrations were likely influenced by increased coal combustion from residential heating. The high OC and EC concentrations were observed during events such as haze, dust, and the combination of the two. During the haze events, OC and EC were enhanced with increase in $PM_{10}$, $PM_{2.5}$, $SO_2$, and $NO_2$ with broad maxima. When dust occurred, both OC and EC started decreasing after reaching their maxima a couple of hours before $PM_{10}$ maximum. The peak separation of carbonaceous species and aerosol masses with time was more noticeable when haze event was followed by dust plume. These results confirm that OC and EC are key components of haze occurring in the study region.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.21-31
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• 2016

Organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) in $PM_{2.5}$ were measured with Sunset OC/EC Field Analyzer at Taehwa Research Forest (TRF) near Seoul metropolitan area from May 2013 to April 2014. During the study period, the mean concentrations of OC and EC were $5.0{\pm}3.2{\mu}gC/m^3$ and $1.7{\pm}1.0{\mu}gC/m^3$, respectively. They showed clear seasonality reaching their maximum in winter ($6.5{\mu}gC/m^3$ and $1.9{\mu}gC/m^3$) and minimum in wet summer ($2.5{\mu}gC/m^3$ and $1.4{\mu}gC/m^3$). While OC showed greater seasonal variation, the diurnal variation was more noticeable for EC through all seasons with a clear maximum in the morning, which reveals the influence of vehicle emissions. In contrast, OC exhibited a broad second peak in the afternoon during May~June, when biological activities were the highest. Using the morning peaks of EC and OC, primary OC/EC ratio was assessed, which was assumed to be anthropogenic origin. It was the greatest in winter followed by spring and the lowest in wet summer. The seasonal difference in primary OC/EC ratio implies the influence of non-local sources of OC at the Mt. Taehwa.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.19-30
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• 2020

The organic carbon in the ambient particulate matter (PM) is divided into primary organic carbon (POC) and secondary organic carbon (SOC) by their formation way. To regulate PM effectively, the estimation of the amount of POC and SOC separately is one of important consideration. Since SOC cannot be measured directly, previous studies have evaluated determination of SOC by the EC tracer method. The EC tracer method is a method of estimating the SOC value from calculating the POC by determining (OC/EC)pri which is the ratio of the measured values of OC and EC from the primary combustion source. In this study, three different ways were applied to OC and EC concentrations in PM_2.5 measured at Seoul for determining (OC/EC)pri: 1) the minimum value of OC/EC ratio during the measurement period; 2) regression analysis of OC vs. EC to select the lower 5-20% OC/EC ratio; 3) determining the OC/EC ratio which has lowest correlation coefficient value (R²) between EC and SOC which is reported as minimum R squared method (MRS). Each (OC/EC)pri ratio of three ways are 0.35, 1.22, and 1.77, respectively from the 1 hourly data. We compared the (OC/EC)pri ratio from 1hourly data with 24 hourly data and revealed that (OC/EC)pri estimated from 24 hourly data had twice larger than 1hourly data due to the low time resolution of sampling. We finally confirmed that the most appropriate value of (OC/EC)pri is that calculated by a regression analysis of 1 hourly data and estimated SOC amounts at PM_2.5 of the Seoul atmosphere.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.103-112
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• 2000

Elemental carbon(EC) and organic carbon(OC) in fine particles (PM2.5) were collected from October 1995 through August 1996 in the Chongju area. The annual mean concentrations of EC and OC were 4.44 and 4.99 $\mu\textrm{g}$/m3 respectively. EC showed seasonal variation (p<0.01) The magnitude of the seasonal mean EC concen-tration progresses in the following manner : fall>winter>spring>summer. However OC was not statistically seasonal difference(p=0.20) The annual average OC/EC ratio was 1.12 suggesting that organic carbon measured may by emitted directly in particulate form(primary aerosol) The contribution of EC to PM2.5 mass follows a general pattern in which fall(14.6%) > winter (9.8%) >spring(7.8%) =summer(7.8%) and the contribution of OC to the PM2.5 mass varies in order fall(13.8%) >winter(11.3%) >spring(10.5%) >summer (9.4%) Total carbona-ceous particles(EC and OC) accounted for 17-28% of the PM2.5 mass.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.567-580
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• 2010

Organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) concentrations were determined for $PM_{10}$, $PM_{2.5}$ and $PM_{1.0}$ aerosols particles collected at Gosan Superstation on Jeju Island from August 2007 to September 2008. Aerosols were collected on quartz filters for 24 hours and then OC and EC were analyzed by TOR/IMPROVED method. Mean concentrations of OC and EC were $4.66\;{\mu}g/m^3$ and $1.69\;{\mu}g/m^3$ for $PM_{10}$, $3.95\;{\mu}g/m^3$ and $1.69\;{\mu}g/m^3$ for $PM_{2.5}$, and $3.16\;{\mu}g/m^3$ and $1.42\;{\mu}g/m^3$ for $PM_{1.0}$, respectively. The concentrations of OC and EC comprised 16.4% and 6.0% of $PM_{10}$, 22.9% and 9.8% of $PM_{2.5}$, and 23.0% and 10.0% of $PM_{1.0}$. OC and EC showed a clear seasonal variation with the highest in winter and the lowest in summer. The correlations between the two were also the best during the winter ($R^2$=0.87, 0.94, and 0.95 for $PM_{10}$, $PM_{2.5}$ and $PM_{1.0}$). The ratio of OC/EC exhibited the maximum (7.24) during an Asian dust event due to an increase of OC, which was possibly derived from soil. The mass fraction of both OC and EC was the highest in fall. When OC and EC concentrations were highly elevated, EC1 (the first EC fraction determined at $550^{\circ}C$) and pyrolyzed OC (POC) were dominant subcomponents in winter and OC3 (the third OC fraction determined at $450^{\circ}C$) and POC in spring.

• Atmosphere
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.429-438
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• 2019

Organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) in PM_2.5 were measured with Sunset Laboratory Model-5 Semi-Continuous OC/EC Field Analyzer by NIOSH/TOT method at Anmyeondo Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) Regional Station (37°32'N, 127°19'E) in July and August, 2017. The mean values of OC and EC were 3.7 ㎍ m^-3 and 0.7 ㎍ m^-3, respectively. During the study period, the concentrations of reactive gases and aerosol compositions were evidently lower than those of other seasons. It is mostly due to meteorological setting of the northeast Asia, where the influence of continental outflow is at its minimum during this season under southwesterly wind. While the diurnal variation of OC and EC were not clear, the concentrations of O₃, CO, NOx, EC, and OC were evidently enhanced under easterly wind at night from 20:00 to 8:00. However, the high concentration of EC was observed concurrently with CO and NOx under northerly wind during 20:00~24:00. It indicates the influence of thermal power plant and industrial facilities, which was recognized as a major emission source during KORUS-AQ campaign. The diurnal variations of pollutants clearly showed the influence of land-sea breeze, in which OC showed good correlation between EC and O₃ in seabreeze. It is estimated to be the recirculation of pollutants in land-sea breeze cycle. This study suggests that in general, Anmyeondo station serves well as a background monitoring station. However, the variation in meteorological condition is so dynamic that it is primary factor to determine the concentrations of secondary species as well as primary pollutants at Anmyeondo station.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2012

A thermal-optical transmittance carbon analyzer has been developed to determine particulate organic (OC) and elemental (EC) carbon. Several analysis factors affecting the sensitivity of OC and EC determination were investigated for the carbon analyzer. Although total carbon (TC) is usually consistent in the determination, OC and EC split is sensitive to adopted analysis protocol. In this study the maximum temperature in oxygen-free He in the analysis was examined as a main cause of the uncertainty. Prior to the sensitivity analysis consistency in OC-EC determination of the carbon analyzer and the uniformity of carbonaceous aerosol loading on a sampled filter were checked to be in acceptable range. EC/TC ratios were slightly decreased with increasing the maximum temperature between $550-800^{\circ}C$. For the increase of maximum temperature from $500^{\circ}C$ to $800^{\circ}C$, the EC/TC ratio was lowered by 4.65-5.61% for TC loading of 13-44 ${\mu}g/cm^2$ with more decrease at higher loading. OC and EC determination was not influenced by trace amount of oxygen in pure He (>99.999%), which is typically used in OC and EC analysis. The facing of sample loaded surface to incident laser beam showed negligible influence in the OC-EC split, but it caused elevated PC fraction in OC for forward facing relative to backward facing.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.449-460
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• 2015

Carbonaceous aerosol is generally classified into OC (organic carbon) and EC (elemental carbon) by thermal optical analysis. Both NIOSH (National institute of occupational safety and health) with high temperature (HighT) and IMPROVE-A (Interagency monitoring of protected visual environments) with low temperature (LowT) protocols are widely used. In this study, both protocols were applied for ambient $PM_{2.5}$ samples (Daejeon, Korea) in order to underpin differences in OC and EC measurements. An excellent agreement between NIOSH and IMPROVE-A protocol was observed for TC (total carbon). However, significant differences between OC and EC appeared and the differences were larger for EC than OC. The main differences between two protocols are temperature profile and charring correction method. For the same charring correction method, HighT_OC was 10% higher than LowT_ OC, while HighT_EC was 15% and 33% lower than LowT_EC for TOT (thermal-optical transmittance) and TOR (thermal-optical reflectance), respectively. This difference may be caused by the temperature of OC4 in He step and possibly difference in POC (pryorilized OC) formation. For the same temperature profile, OC by TOT was about 26% higher than that by TOR. In contrast, EC by TOT was about 50% lower than that by TOR. POC was also dependent on both temperature profile and the charring correction method, showing much distinctive differences for the charring correction method (i.e., POC by TOT to POC by TOR ratio is about 2). This difference might be caused by different characteristics between transmittance and reflectance for monitoring POC formation within filters. Results from this study showed that OC and EC depends on applied analysis protocol as shown other studies. Because of the nature of the thermal optical analysis, it may not be possible to have an absolute standard analysis protocol that is applicable for any ambient $PM_{2.5}$. Nevertheless, in order to provide consistent measurement results for scientists and policy makers, future studies should focus on developing a harmonized standard analysis protocol that is suitable for a specific air domain and minimizes variations in OC and EC measurement results. In addition, future elaborate studies are required to find and understand the causes of the differences.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.578-592
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• 2015

To investigate characteristics and seasonal variations of carbonaceous species for $PM_{2.5}$ in Seoul metropolitan area, Korea, we measured organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) from January 2014 to December 2014 using a semi-continuous OC/EC Analyzer (Model-4, Sunset Lab.). Mean concentrations of OC and EC were estimated $4.1{\pm}2.7{\mu}g/m^3$ and $1.6{\pm}1.0{\mu}g/m^3$, respectively. The annual averaged OC/EC ratio was $2.9{\pm}2.7$. Concentrations of OC and EC comprised 13% and 5% of $PM_{2.5}$ and the mass fraction of both was the highest in fall. OC and EC showed similar trend in seasonal variations. Concentrations of those showed a clear seasonal variation with the highest in winter and the lowest in summer. The correlations between the two were the best during the winter ($r^2=0.88$). As results of carbonaceous species analysis, the dominant factor in view of fine particle ($PM_{2.5}$) is primary emission source such as mobile, fossil fuel combustion during commute time(08:00~10:00 or 17:00~21:00) and winter season. Continuous monitoring of atmospheric carbonaceous species is essential to provide the science-based data to policy-maker establishing the air quality improvement policy.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.53-56
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• 2018

Elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC) mass concentrations in PM2.5 were measured from March through October 2015 in Taehwa Research Forest (TRF). The concentration of carbon in the TRF was $3.4{\mu}g/m^3$ and the concentration of EC was $1.4{\mu}g/m^3$. Also the concentration of $OC_{sec}$ was the highest at $2.84{\mu}g/m^3$ in the summer and the lowest at 1.66 in the spring. The ratio of the secondary generation OC in the total OC was the highest at 62% in the summer. Monthly OC concentration was the lowest at $2.38{\mu}g/m^3$ in April and the highest at $6.60{\mu}g/m^3$ in July. In case of EC concentration was the lowest in April ($0.98{\mu}g/m^3$) and the highest in July ($3.41{\mu}g/m^3$). The OC/EC ratio showed the lowest ratio in March and the highest rate in September. It is suggested that the secondary generation reaction of OC component was active due to sufficient irradiation amount in summer.