Sampling Techniques For Air Pollutants

This chapter provides an overview of sampling techniques for air pollutants. Sampling is surely the most critical step within the total scheme of air analysis. Because of the arbitrary and complex dynamic nature of air, in terms of the temporal and spatial fluctuations of gaseous and particulate analytes, many sampling problems still exist. The chapter discusses how one can transfer the components of interest, without changes in the physical and chemical states, to the analytical process. This means that any artifact formation during sampling has to be avoided. To evaluate the different possible strategies, sampling techniques as divided: sampling without suction, with deposition; sampling with suction, without deposition; and sampling with suction, with deposition. In addition, the chapter explains existing sampling principles that may be suitable for an application. The discussion concentrates mainly on particle-related analytical techniques.