Publication Date:
2019
Description:
〈b〉Validity and limitations of simple reaction kinetics to calculate
concentrations of organic compounds from ion counts in PTR-MS〈/b〉〈br〉
Rupert Holzinger, W. Joe F. Acton, William J. Bloss, Martin Breitenlechner, Leigh R. Crilley, Sébastien Dusanter, Marc Gonin, Valerie Gros, Frank N. Keutsch, Astrid Kiendler-Scharr, Louisa J. Kramer, Jordan E. Krechmer, Baptiste Languille, Nadine Locoge, Felipe Lopez-Hilfiker, Dušan Materić, Sergi Moreno, Eiko Nemitz, Lauriane L. J. Quéléver, Roland Sarda Esteve, Stéphane Sauvage, Simon Schallhart, Roberto Sommariva, Ralf Tillmann, Sergej Wedel, David R. Worton, Kangming Xu, and Alexander Zaytsev〈br〉
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https//doi.org/10.5194/amt-2018-446,2019〈br〉
〈b〉Manuscript under review for AMT〈/b〉 (discussion: open, 0 comments)〈br〉
In September 2017, we conducted the Proton-transfer-reaction mass-spectrometry (PTR-MS) Intercomparison campaign at CABauw (PICAB), a rural site in central Netherlands. Nine research groups deployed a total of eleven instruments covering a wide range of instrument types and performance. We applied a new calibration method based on fast injection of a gas standard through a sample loop. This approach allows calibrations on time scales of seconds and within a few minutes an automated sequence can be run allowing to retrieve diagnostic parameters that indicate the performance status. We developed a method to retrieve the mass dependent transmission from the fast calibrations, which is an essential characteristic of PTR-MS instruments, limiting the potential to calculate concentrations based on counting statistics and simple reaction kinetics in the reactor/drift tube. Our measurements show that PTR-MS instruments follow the simple reaction kinetics if operated in the standard range for pressures and temperature of the reaction chamber (i.e. 1–4 mbar, 30–120 ℃, respectively), and a reduced field strength 〈i〉E/N〈/i〉 in the range of 100–160 Td. If artefacts can be ruled out, it becomes possible to quantify the signals of uncalibrated organics with accuracies better than ±30 %. The simple reaction kinetics approach produces less accurate results at 〈i〉E/N〈/i〉 levels below 100 Td, because significant fractions of primary ions form water hydronium clusters. De-protonation through reactive collisions of protonated organics with water molecules need to be considered when the collision energy is a substantial fraction of the exoergicity of the proton transfer reaction, and/or if protonated organics undergo many collisions with water molecules.
Print ISSN:
1867-1381
Electronic ISSN:
1867-8548
Topics:
Geosciences
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