Measurement of anions in ambient particulate matter by ion chromatography: A novel sample preparation technique and development of a generic uncertainty budget

A novel sample preparation technique for the measurement of anions in particulate matter by ion chromatography is presented. The technique uses the eluant from the ion chromatography analysis stage to perform the extraction of the anions from the particulate matter. The demonstrated advantages of the new technique are manifold: faster sample throughput, minimised sample preparation, and a matrixed-matched sample for analysis. The repeatability of the technique has been tested using nominally identical ambient particulate matter samples (sub-sampled from one large filter) and the uncertainty of the technique has been estimated. The uncertainty estimate is transferable to other similar methods used to measure ions in particulate matter. Real data obtained using the new method are also presented.