Techniques for high-quality ambient coarse particle mass measurements

Several recent studies have shown associations between ambient concentrations of particle mass (PM) and rates of morbidity and mortality in the general population. These studies have raised the issue of quality of coarse mass (CM, PM between 2.5 and 10 mu m) data used for these purposes. CM data may have precision three or more times worse than the associated PM2.5 or PM10 data, depending on the measurement method, PM2.5 to PM10 ratios, and CM concentrations. CM is measured either as the difference between collocated PM10 and PM2.5 samplers or more directly with a dichotomous (virtual impactor) sampler. CM precision for the difference method is degraded due to the increased errors inherent with using the difference between two independent measurements, as well as the high PM2.5 to PM10 ratios (and low CM concentrations) typical of the eastern United States. The dichotomous sampler (dichot) makes a more direct measurement of CM, but there is a potential for significant postexposure loss of particles from unoiled CM dichot filters, as well as uncertainties in the dichot's CM channel enrichment factor. Compared to the dichot, low-volume inertial impactor samplers such as the Harvard Impactor (HI) or PM2.5 Federal Reference Method (FRM) are simpler to operate and maintain, provide sharper cut points, and do not require oiled filters to prevent loss of CM from the filter during transport. With the recent interest in CM spatial and temporal variability with respect to PM health effects, we have developed modifications to the HI PM method to provide measurements of 24-hour PM with estimated CM precision of better than 5% CV and r(2) higher than 0.95, primarily by lowering field blank variability and increasing gravimetric analytical precision. These high-precision PM techniques are not limited to the HI sampler; they can also be applied to the PM2.5 FRM sampler. The measurement methods described here can be applied to future PM studies to avoid the potential problems with exposure assessment caused by CM measurements that have poor precision.