ICP-MS Determination of Trace Elements in Aerosols Using a Dynamic Reaction Cell: First Results in PM10 Comparing Road and Aerial Traffic in Nice Area (France)

Abstract

An analytical methodology was developed for the determination of 21 trace elements in suspended particulate matter (PM) using a microwave digestion procedure associated with an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The dynamic reaction cell (DRC) of the instrument was carefully optimized to eliminate polyatomic species causing spectral interferences for three specified elements (Cr, Fe, Mn). With this method, the detection limits based on the analysis of seven quartz fibre filters (QFF) considering a one-week sample (250 ^m3) varied between 0.2 and 650 pg m^-3 for trace elements and between 2.1 and 5.6 ng m^-3 for major elements (Fe, Ti, Zn). The recovery of the analytes was tested with NIST SRM 1648 urban dust within 10 % of the certified values only for 3-4 mg of material. The first results were discussed for a field campaign which was carried out simultaneously in the heaviest traffic road tunnel of the centre of Nice and near the landing-taking-off runways in the international airport of Nice Côte d'Azur. The behaviour of some combustion tracers was especially studied.