Measurement Techniques for the Composition of Air Environments: Development and Application

Accurate and reliable measurements of the composition of air environments (workplace air, ambient air, industrial air emissions) form a solid basis for decision making in the area of environmental quality. This article deals with the problem of developing and testing techniques for measuring air quality parameters. The disadvantages of the existing techniques are identified. A methodology for creating appropriate techniques is proposed. Procedures for developing reference materials (RMs) for internal and external quality control of measurement results are described, along with approaches to estimating the metrological characteristics of measurement techniques. The process of applying measurement techniques is specified. It is shown that techniques for measuring air quality parameters may be divided for two basic stages, i. e., the stage of analytical sampling and the stage of measuring the required indicators in this sample. This approach expands the possibilities of developing and certifying such techniques, thereby increasing the reliability of measurement results. Using the developed approach, the authors have successfully developed 12 techniques for measuring air quality parameters and four certified reference materials (CRMs). Works in this direction are continued.