EUPHORE Spotlight: Aerosol d.o.o. Advances Air Pollution Instrumentation Testing and Research

Aerosol d.o.o. is a Slovenian SME with large expertise in carbonaceous aerosols. It develops and commercializes innovative instruments for characterizing particulate air pollution. Established in 2007, it grew rapidly and has developed the Aethalometer AE33, the latest of the instruments for measuring black carbon in the air. Aethalometers are the most widely used systems for measuring black carbon. The company has its own research group which collaborates with many leading world scientists and institutions.

Aerosol d.o.o. has accessed EUPHORE to validate a newly developed TC-BC(λ) method using a CASS system and to test a new Aethalometer prototype for measuring carbonaceous aerosols under different conditions and combustion sources of black carbon and brown carbon. The EUPHORE chamber was adapted to introduce emissions from vehicle exhaust fumes (diesel, gasoline) and from the burning of different woods, both in the flaming and smoldering phases. Experiments included aerosol aging. Therefore, the instruments were tested under various scenarios simulating real conditions.
Collaboration with the industry is always challenging and exciting. It is the last step before the release of an instrument to the market. The experiments are designed to probe the technology under different conditions to verify and characterize its behavior, but also to identify points to optimize if necessary and to assess scientific-related questions. The high volume of EUPHORE and use of natural sunlight together with a wide variety of instruments (well-established and state-of-the-art techniques for gas and particle phase, e.g. PTR-ToF-MS, API-ToF-CIMS + Figaero) has made possible such a campaign in which UMH-Elche has also participated.
Aerosol d.o.o. is a recognized company and its instruments are used worldwide. A collaboration with them puts the focus from other companies, but also from the scientific community, on EUPHORE and on its use as a test bed for instruments while researching scientific questions.