Award Date

1-1-1997

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Chemistry

First Committee Member

Brian J. Johnson

Second Committee Member

Spencer M. Steinberg

Number of Pages

113

Abstract

Atmospheric aromatic hydrocarbons and dicarboxylic acids were measured simultaneously in this work. A method was developed for aromatic hydrocarbons: collection on Tenax and charcoal, thermal desorption, and gas chromatographic analysis. Another method was verified for diacids: collection on quartz filter, conversion to dibutylesters, and analysis by capillary gas chromatography; Results of aromatic hydrocarbon measurements show a very strong linear relation among all aromatic hydrocarbons, and a significant correlation between aromatic hydrocarbons and CO measured at a nearby location. This result strongly suggests that aromatic hydrocarbons originate from automobiles. After correcting for dilution effects by normalizing hydrocarbon concentrations by CO concentration, the observed decrease in the normalized daytime concentrations indicates that atmospheric aromatic hydrocarbons undergo photochemical destruction during the daytime; Results of diacid measurements show a complex diurnal variation in concentrations. The diacids measured possibly came from either local production and/or emissions, resuspension, or from long-range transport from other areas.

Keywords

Acids; Air; Ambient; Dicarboxylic; Hydrocarbons; Measurement; Monoaromatic; Simultaneous

Controlled Subject

Chemistry, Analytic; Organic chemistry; Environmental sciences

File Format

pdf

File Size

2775.04 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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