Development and Characterization of an Annular Denuder Methodology for the Measurement of Divalent Inorganic Reactive Gaseous Mercury in Ambient Air

Abstract

Atmospheric mercury is predominantly present in the gaseous elemental form (Hg⁰). However, anthropogenic emissions (e.g., incineration, fossil fuel combustion) emit and natural processes create particulate-phase mercury (Hg(p)) and divalent reactive gas-phase mercury (RGM). RGM species (e.g., HgCl₂, HgBr₂) are water-soluble and have much shorter residence times in the atmosphere than Hg⁰ due to their higher removal rates through wet and dry deposition mechanisms. Manual and automated annular denuder methodologies, to provide high-resolution (1−2 h) ambient RGM measurements, were developed and evaluated. Following collection of RGM onto KCl-coated quartz annular denuders, RGM was thermally decomposed and quantified as Hg⁰. Laboratory and field evaluations of the denuders found the RGM collection efficiency to be >94% and mean collocated precision to be -³, respectively. As part of this research, the authors observed that methods to measure Hg(p) had a significant positive artifact when RGM coexists with Hg(p). This artifact was eliminated if a KCl-coated annular denuder preceded the filter. This new atmospheric mercury speciation methodology has dramatically enhanced our ability to investigate the mechanisms of transformation and deposition of mercury in the atmosphere.