Articles | Volume 12, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4779-2019
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4779-2019
Research article
 | 
06 Sep 2019
Research article |  | 06 Sep 2019

Determination of n-alkanes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and hopanes in atmospheric aerosol: evaluation and comparison of thermal desorption GC-MS and solvent extraction GC-MS approaches

Meng Wang, Ru-Jin Huang, Junji Cao, Wenting Dai, Jiamao Zhou, Chunshui Lin, Haiyan Ni, Jing Duan, Ting Wang, Yang Chen, Yongjie Li, Qi Chen, Imad El Haddad, and Thorsten Hoffmann

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The analytical performances of SE-GC-MS and TD-GC-MS for the determination of n-alkanes, PAHs and hopanes were evaluated and compared. The two methods show a good agreement with a high correlation efficient (R2 > 0.98) and a slope close to unity. The concentrations of n-alkanes, PAHs and hopanes are found to be much higher in Beijing than those in Chengdu, Shanghai and Guangzhou, most likely due to emissions from coal combustion for wintertime heating in Beijing.
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