In Situ Light Scattering Techniques for Determining Aerosol Size Distributions and Optical Constants

Author(s):  
Gerald W. Grams
2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (21) ◽  
pp. 8283-8308 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. S. McNaughton ◽  
A. D. Clarke ◽  
V. Kapustin ◽  
Y. Shinozuka ◽  
S. G. Howell ◽  
...  

Abstract. In-situ airborne measurements of trace gases, aerosol size distributions, chemistry and optical properties were conducted over Mexico and the Eastern North Pacific during MILAGRO and INTEX-B. Heterogeneous reactions between secondary aerosol precursor gases and mineral dust lead to sequestration of sulfur, nitrogen and chlorine in the supermicrometer particulate size range. Simultaneous measurements of aerosol size distributions and weak-acid soluble calcium result in an estimate of 11 wt% of CaCO3 for Asian dust. During transport across the North Pacific, ~5–30% of the CaCO3 is converted to CaSO4 or Ca(NO3)2 with an additional ~4% consumed through reactions with HCl. The 1996 to 2008 record from the Mauna Loa Observatory confirm these findings, indicating that, on average, 19% of the CaCO3 has reacted to form CaSO4 and 7% has reacted to form Ca(NO3)2 and ~2% has reacted with HCl. In the nitrogen-oxide rich boundary layer near Mexico City up to 30% of the CaCO3 has reacted to form Ca(NO3)2 while an additional 8% has reacted with HCl. These heterogeneous reactions can result in a ~3% increase in dust solubility which has an insignificant effect on their optical properties compared to their variability in-situ. However, competition between supermicrometer dust and submicrometer primary aerosol for condensing secondary aerosol species led to a 25% smaller number median diameter for the accumulation mode aerosol. A 10–25% reduction of accumulation mode number median diameter results in a 30–70% reduction in submicrometer light scattering at relative humidities in the 80–95% range. At 80% RH submicrometer light scattering is only reduced ~3% due to a higher mass fraction of hydrophobic refractory components in the dust-affected accumulation mode aerosol. Thus reducing the geometric mean diameter of the submicrometer aerosol has a much larger effect on aerosol optical properties than changes to the hygroscopic:hydrophobic mass fractions of the accumulation mode aerosol. In the presence of dust, nitric acid concentrations are reduced to <50% of total nitrate (nitric acid plus particulate nitrate). NOy as a fraction of total nitrogen (NOy plus particulate nitrate), is reduced from >85% to 60–80% in the presence of dust. These observations support previous model studies which predict irreversible sequestration of reactive nitrogen species through heterogeneous reactions with mineral dust during long-range transport.


1993 ◽  
Vol 324 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Pickering ◽  
D.A.O. Hope ◽  
W.Y. Leong ◽  
D.J. Robbins ◽  
R. Greef

AbstractIn-situ dual-wavelength ellipsometry and laser light scattering have been used to monitor growth of Si/Si1−x,Gex heterojunction bipolar transistor and multi-quantum well (MQW) structures. The growth rate of B-doped Si0 8Ge0.2 has been shown to be linear, but that of As-doped Si is non-linear, decreasing with time. Refractive index data have been obtained at the growth temperature for x = 0.15, 0.20, 0.25. Interface regions ∼ 6-20Å thickness have been detected at hetero-interfaces and during interrupted alloy growth. Period-to-period repeatability of MQW structures has been shown to be ±lML.


1991 ◽  
Vol 222 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Johs ◽  
J. L. Edwards ◽  
K. T. Shiralagi ◽  
R. Droopad ◽  
K. Y. Choi ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTA modular spectroscopic ellipsometer, capable of both in-situ and ex-situ operation, has been used to measure important growth parameters of GaAs/AIGaAs structures. The ex-situ measurements provided layer thicknesses and compositions of the grown structures. In-situ ellipsometric measurements allowed the determination of growth rates, layer thicknesses, and high temperature optical constants. By performing a regression analysis of the in-situ data in real-time, the thickness and composition of an AIGaAs layer were extracted during the MBE growth of the structure.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Ángeles Burgos Simón ◽  
Elisabeth Andrews ◽  
Gloria Titos ◽  
Angela Benedetti ◽  
Huisheng Bian ◽  
...  

&lt;p&gt;The particle hygroscopic growth impacts the optical properties of aerosols and, in turn, affects the aerosol-radiation interaction and calculation of the Earth&amp;#8217;s radiative balance. The dependence of particle light scattering on relative humidity (RH) can be described by the scattering enhancement factor f(RH), defined as the ratio between the particle light scattering coefficient at a given RH divided by its dry value.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The first effort of the AeroCom Phase III &amp;#8211; INSITU experiment was to develop an observational dataset of scattering enhancement values at 26 sites to study the uptake of water by atmospheric aerosols, and evaluate f(RH) globally (Burgos et al., 2019). Model outputs from 10 Earth System Models (CAM, CAM-ATRAS, CAM-Oslo, GEOS-Chem, GEOS-GOCART, MERRAero, TM5, OsloCTM3, IFS-AER, and ECMWF) were then evaluated against this in-situ dataset. Building on these results, we investigate f(RH) in the context of other aerosol optical and chemical properties, making use of the same 10 Earth System Models (ESMs) and in-situ measurements as in Burgos et al. (2020) and Titos et al. (2021).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Given the difficulties of deploying and maintaining instrumentation for long-term, accurate and comprehensive f(RH) observations, it is desirable to find an observational proxy for f(RH). This observation-based proxy would also need to be reproduced in modelling space. Our aim here is to evaluate how ESMs currently represent the relationship between f(RH), scattering &amp;#197;ngstr&amp;#246;m exponent (SAE), and single scattering albedo (SSA). This work helps to identify current challenges in modelling water-uptake by aerosols and their impact on aerosol optical properties within Earth system models.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We start by analyzing the behavior of SSA with RH, finding the expected increase with RH for all site types and models. Then, we analyze the three variables together (f(RH)-SSA-SAE relationship). Results show that hygroscopic particles tend to be bigger and scatter more than non-hygroscopic small particles, though variability within models is noticeable. This relationship can be further studied by relating SAE to model chemistry, by selecting those grid points dominated by a single chemical component (mass mixing ratios &gt; 90%). Finally, we analyze model performance at three specific sites representing different aerosol types: Arctic, marine and rural. At these sites, the model data can be exactly temporally and spatially collocated with the observations, which should help to identify the models which exhibit better agreement with measurements and for which aerosol type.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Burgos, M.A.&amp;#160;et al.:&amp;#160;A global view on the effect of water uptake on aerosol particle light scattering.&amp;#160;Sci Data&amp;#160;6,&amp;#160;157. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0158-7, 2019.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Burgos, M.A. et al.: A global model&amp;#8211;measurement evaluation of particle light scattering coefficients at elevated relative humidity, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10231&amp;#8211;10258, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10231-2020, 2020.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Titos, G. et al.: A global study of hygroscopicity-driven light scattering enhancement in the context of other in-situ aerosol optical properties, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-1250, in review, 2020.&lt;/p&gt;


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarkis Kakadjian ◽  
Jarrett Kitchen ◽  
Amanda Flowers ◽  
John Vu ◽  
Amanuel Gebrekirstos ◽  
...  

Abstract Polyacrylamide-based friction reducers (FR's) - including viscosifying polyacrylamides, which are designed to decrease proppant settling by increasing molecular weight and/or active material in the FR - are used extensively in high-rate fracture stimulations. However, because polyacrylamides are difficult to break, there have been concerns about how these materials impact fracture conductivity and formation permeability. This study presents the effect of conventional and novel oxidative breakers over the viscosity and colloidal size distribution of the broken polymers. Breakers tested include conventional persulfates, perborates and patent pending peroxides, all of which generate free radicals to degrade partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamides (PHPAs). Breakers were tested at bottomhole temperatures encountered in the Permian, Bakken, Haynesville and Eagle Ford. Changes to PHPA viscosity were determined using vibrational viscometers. Size distributions and percentage of the broken colloidal PHPA were determined by dynamic light scattering. This method can measure sizes down to 0.6 nanometers, which is within the range of even the smallest pore-throat sizes in shales. Light scattering revealed surprising anomalies in breaker performance. When aged at temperatures typical of the Permian, each of the tested breakers at each of the varied concentrations caused similar levels of viscosity reduction but different size distributions. Some breakers had the unwanted effect of narrowing the colloidal size fractions to the lower end of the spectrum. At these small sizes, colloids are more likely to overlap with segments of the pore throat distribution in some shales, which could inhibit production. In addition, when the FR was aged at the higher temperatures encountered in the Bakken, Eagle Ford and Haynesville, some breakers were not able to uniformly break the PHPA. In these cases, FR's without breakers delivered superior performance. The results clearly demonstrate that breakers may not always have the desired effect of increasing the formation's permeability. In fact, depending on the type of breaker and the concentration, they can often have detrimental effects that ultimately hinder production.


2014 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 405-412
Author(s):  
Christiane Ribeiro da Silva ◽  
Vládia C. G. de Souza ◽  
Jair C. Koppe

A methodology to determine the size distribution curve of the ROM was developed in a Brazilian iron ore mine. The size of the larger fragments was determined taking photographs and setting the scale of the images to analyze their dimensions (length of their edges and areas). This was implemented according to a specific protocol of sampling that involves split and homogenization stages in situ of a considerable quantity of ore (about 259 metric tonnes). During the sampling process, larger fragments were separated and smaller size material was screened. The methodology was developed initially in order to preview the performance of a primary gyratory crusher that is fed directly from trucks. Operational conditions of the equipment such as closed and open-side settings could be adjusted previously, obtaining different product size distributions. Variability of size of the fragments affects subsequent stages of crushing and can increase circulating load in the circuit. This leads to a decrease of productivity or recovery of the ore dressing. The results showed insignificant errors of accuracy and reproducibility of the sampling protocol when applied to friable itabirite rocks.


2016 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-75
Author(s):  
B. Gelloz ◽  
K. Ichimura ◽  
H. Fuwa ◽  
E. Kondoh ◽  
L. Jin

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