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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 4, 2026

Split Point Analysis and Uncertainty Quantification of Thermal-Optical Organic/Elemental Carbon Measurements

Split Point Analysis and Uncertainty Quantification of Thermal-Optical Organic/Elemental Carbon Measurements

Published on: September 7, 2019

Harmonizing aerosol carbon measurements between two conventional thermal/optical analysis methods.

Guorui Zhi¹, Yingjun Chen, Junying Sun

¹Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China. zhigr68@yahoo.com.cn

Environmental Science & Technology

|March 4, 2011

Summary

This study quantifies the difference between NIOSH and IMPROVE thermal/optical analysis (TOA) protocols for elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC) measurements. A regression equation harmonizes inconsistent EC/TC ratio data, improving aerosol carbon analysis.

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Area of Science:

Environmental Science
Analytical Chemistry
Atmospheric Science

Background:

Total carbon (TC) measurement is consistent, but differentiating organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) is inconsistent.
The NIOSH and IMPROVE protocols are standard for thermal/optical analysis (TOA), but yield different EC values.
Previous studies indicate the NIOSH protocol typically yields lower EC than the IMPROVE protocol.

Purpose of the Study:

To quantitatively link the differences observed between the NIOSH and IMPROVE TOA protocols.
To develop a method for harmonizing inconsistent EC/TC ratio measurements from different TOA protocols.

Main Methods:

Reanalyzed residential coal-burning samples using the IMPROVE protocol after initial analysis with the NIOSH protocol.
Compared EC values obtained from both protocols.
Developed a regression equation to describe the relationship between the EC/TC ratios from the two protocols.

Main Results:

Established a dynamic relationship between the NIOSH and IMPROVE protocols.
Derived a regression equation: y=(1-x)/(1+4.86x2) (R2=0.96), where x is the IMPROVE EC/TC ratio and y is the relative difference between IMPROVE and NIOSH EC/TC.
Achieved high correlation (R2=0.96) between the derived relationship and the experimental data.

Conclusions:

The developed regression equation provides the first quantitative link between the two major TOA protocols.
This equation can harmonize inconsistent TOA measurements for applications like source characterization, ambient monitoring, and atmospheric modeling.
Improved consistency in EC/TC measurements will enhance the accuracy of aerosol carbon analysis.