Determination of organic carbon and elemental carbon concentrations in particulate matter samples collected in Aksaray atmosphere

Atmospheric carbons are an important component for particles. The carbon in atmospheric particles can be classified into two main categories: EC and OC. Determination of EC and OC concentrations is one of the important methods in determining aerosol source and species. EC is also known as black carbon and is exhausted into the atmosphere as a combustion boost. Its structure is graphite with black color. The carbon in the EC is generated from combustion reactions that occur at high temperatures and the isotopic structure does not change much due to its inert nature. For this reason, almost all of the particulate phase EC can be assumed to have reached to atmosphere from primary combustion sources. OC part could exhausted from primary sources, on the other hand, the OC part can undergo many modifications due to photochemical reactions in the atmosphere, and it is formed from hundreds of organic compounds. Particulate OC contains basically hydrocarbons and other organic compounds of various oxidation productsIf the ratio of OC to EC is calculated, SOA can be simply calculated with a relatively simple empirical method. The atmospheric aerosol has different sources, such as fossil fuel burning, biomass burning, as well as burning reactions at high temperatures, and plant reactions and photochemical reactions at low temperatures. Thus, EC appears to be a tracer of primary human resources and has an inert character in atmospheric reactions. Organic carbon (OC), on the other hand, contains numerous compounds of both primary and secondary origin. Within the scope of the proposed research project, elemental carbon and organic carbon measurements will be made on particulate matter in different dimensions to be collected from Aksaray atmosphere. In that project, sampling will be done for both summer and winter season with a cascade impactor sampler at a determined point within the Aksaray University campus. This study will also reveal the effect of the secondary organic aerosol additive on the total particulate matter by the EC tracer method. In addition, an EC / OC data set will be created for the first time in Aksaray.