Researcher Excellence Grants

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

DWD

The REG is funded and contracted directly by EURAMET, however the REG-Researcher will report to the JRP-Consortium in terms of tasking and progress.

The Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) is the National Meteorological Service of the Federal Republic of Germany. DWD records, analyses and monitors the physical and chemical processes in our atmosphere. DWD operates the Hohenpeissenberg Meteorological Observatory (HPB) devoted to long-term monitoring and research of chemical composition and processes of the atmosphere. Based on comprehensive observations, HPB contributes in the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) programme by WMO since 1995 with a broad spectrum of aerosol (physical, optical and chemical) and reactive trace gas observations. HPB has set research foci in particle nucleation, photochemistry, and quality assurance for long-term monitoring, especially VOC, OH radicals, NOx, CO, O3 and SO2.

Since 1995, HPB operates an organic trace gases laboratory to cover the routine monitoring as part of the GAW programme and special questions related to OH –photochemistry, ozone formation, gas-particle interaction, particle nucleation, SOA-formation, and source attribution. For these purposes, a broad spectrum of VOC including C2-C12 hydrocarbons, biogenic hydrocarbons (isoprene and monoterpenes), and oxygen-containing VOC (OVOC) in the C1-C10 range is routinely measured. Three online GC systems have been set up for C2-C8 NMHC (GC-FID with cryo-trap on glass-beads), for monoterpenes and C5-C12 NMHC (GC-FID/MS with adsorption trap and cryo-focus), and for OVOCs (GC-FID/MS with adsorption trap). These instruments are capable of measuring more than 100 VOC components in automated operation with detections limits between 0.1 and 50 pmol/mol and uncertainties of better than 5 %-some 30 % in the low pmol/mol range.

During the European AMOHA (Accurate Measurements of Hydrocarbons in Atmosphere) a side-by-side sampling and comparison experiment for ambient NMHC was carried out at Hohenpeissenberg and overseen by Dr Christian Plass-Duelmer. Dr Christian Plass-Duelmer also heads the working group at DWD.

The organic trace gases laboratory has tested various procedures of water and ozone removal needed in the sampling of VOC and optimised their systems for very low artefacts due to these issues. In the European research infrastructure project ACTRIS (Aerosols, clouds and trace gases research infrastructure network), the organic trace gases laboratory has coordinated with EMPA a round-robin experiment. October 2013, the organic trace gases lab at HPB will organise a side-by-side intercomparison experiment for OVOCs at Hohenpeissenberg with 7 leading groups in OVOC analysis world-wide and various on- and off-line GC systems and PTR-MS systems participating. For this, DWD HPB will provide mixtures of OVOCs with zero gases, various levels of humidity and ozone, and ambient air supplied via a common manifold to the participating systems. Accordingly, large experience in OVOC measurements, zero gas preparation and dilution procedures exist at DWD HPB.

Selected publications

  1. C. Plass-Dülmer, N. Schmidbauer, J. Slemr, F. Slemr, and H.D’Souza, European hydrocarbon intercomparison experiment AMOHA part 4: Canister sampling of ambient air, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D04306, doi:10.1029/2005JD006351, 2006.
  2. C. Plass-Dülmer, and H. Berresheim, Volatile Organic Compound Measurements at Hohenpeissenberg as part of GAW, in “The German Contribution to the WMO/GAW Program: Upon the 225th anniversary of GAW Hohenpeissenebrg Observatory, ed. W. Fricke, GAW Report 167, (WMO TD No. 1336), 2007.
  3. S. Bartenbach, J. Williams, C. Plass-Dülmer, H. Berresheim and J. Lelieveld, In-situ measurements of reactive hydrocarbons at Hohenpeissenberg with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GCxGC-FID): use in estimating HO and NO3. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 7, 1-14, 2007.
  4. Helmig, D., J. Bottenheim, I. E. Galbally, A. Lewis, M. J. T. Milton, S. Penkett, C. Plass-Duelmer, S. Reimann, P. Tans, and S. Thiel (2009), Volatile organic compounds in the global atmosphere, Eos Trans. AGU, 90(52), 513–514.
  5. B. Rappenglück, E. Apel, M. Bauerfeind, J. Bottenheim, P. Brickell, P. Cavolka, J. Cech, L. Gatti, H. Hakola, J. Honzak, R. Junek, D. Martin, C. Noone, C. Plass-Dülmer, D. Travers, and D. Wang, The first VOC intercomparison exercise within the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW), Atmos. Environ. 40, 7508-7527, 2006.
  6. von Schneidemesser, E., P.S. Monks, and C. Plass-Duelmer (2010), Global Comparison of VOC and CO Observations in Urban Areas, Atmosph. Environ. 44, 5053-5064.

 

POLITO

The REG is funded and contracted directly by EURAMET, however the REG-Researcher will report to the JRP-Consortium in terms of tasking and progress.

Guido Sassi has been an assistant professor since 1990 at POLITO and has experience in equipment design, gas fluid dynamics and pipelines. In the last 5 years he has been involved in the development of a VOC mixture generation device.

The Department of Applied Science and Technology of the Politecnico of Torino (POLITO) has a variety of research subjects, ranging from the fundamentals of chemistry and materials science to the production and behaviour of engineered materials. The Department’s research projects include collaborations with other universities and public and private institutions such as MIUR, ASI, CNR and INRIM, as well as with various European Community bodies. The Department also has created close collaborations with the industrial sector.

The Department has over 60 research staff and approximately 20 technical and administrative staff. There are seven 7 Departmental laboratories, for fundamental chemistry, metallic materials, polymer materials, ceramic materials, materials science and technology, mechanical testing, and information technology.

In the Department, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is used in for a wide variety of applications, ranging from reacting single phase systems and gas-liquid, solid-liquid, solid-gas multiphase systems. Within this the research in the Department has focused on the use of Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equation (RANS) and of Large Eddy Simulation (LES) techniques, with particular focus on the development of micro-mixing (or sub-grid scale) models and population balance models.

Selected publications

  1. Sassi G, Demichelis A and Sassi M P 2009.  A dynamic trace VOC generator useful for global climate change study. Proc. of the XIX IMEKO World Congress (Lisbon, September 2009), 2602-2605
  2. G. Sassi,  A. Demichelis, M. Sassi, “Uncertainty analysis of the diffusion rate in the dynamic generation of VOC mixtures”, Measurement Science and Technology, (2011)
  3. Petitti M; Barresi A.A.; Vanni M (2009) Controlled release of vancomycin from PCL microcapsules for an ophthalmic application. In: CHEMICAL ENGINEERING RESEARCH & DESIGN, vol. 87, pp. 859-866. - ISSN 0263-8762
  4. Petitti M.; Marchisio D.L; Vanni M; Baldi G; Mancini N; Podenzani F (2009) Effect of drag modelling on the prediction of critical regime transitions in agitated gas-liquid reactors with bubble size distribution modelling. In: MULTIPHASE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, vol. 21, pp. 95-106. - ISSN 0276-1459
  5. A. Demichelis, G. Sassi and M.P. Sassi “Metrological performances of Mass Flow Controllers for dynamic gas dilution”, Accreditation and Quality Assurance ISSN 0949-1775, Vol.18, No. 3, pp. 181-186. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013. Published: March 2013. Doi: 10.1007/s00769-013-0974-y
  6. A. Demichelis, G. Sassi, M.P. Sassi “An handy method for reproducible and stable measurements of VOC at trace level in air” Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering ISSN: 1876-1100, Sensors and Microsystems – Proceedings of the 17th National AISEM Conference, 5-7 February 2013, Brescia, Italy, No. 10162, ISBN: 978-3-319-00683-3, pp. (in press). © Springer, New York-USA  2014

 

UdS

REG(UdS) will take place at the Lab for Measurement Technology (LMT) which is part of Saarland University in Germany. LMT has wide experience in the field of semiconductor gas sensors and their applications, especially in the field of VOC measurements. Currently, Prof. Dr. Andreas Schütze, head of the LMT, is project leader in an FP7 project SENSIndoor, which is dedicated to the selective detection of hazardous VOCs using a nanotechnology-based intelligent multi-sensor system. Moreover, he is work group leader in a COST Action on Air Quality (EuNetAir).

Dr Tilman Sauerwald is a very experienced researcher in the field of gas sensing, especially semiconductor gas sensors. His scientific interests are the development of nanostructured gas sensors and techniques of non-equilibrium multi-signal generation. His current research focus is the detection of trace gases (mainly indoor VOC) including the traceable generation of test gases and the automated monitoring of the sensor function. Throughout his work, he has gained strong experience in porous materials. Most of the work on porous materials aimed at the preparation most sensor materials. In this context, he investigated the functionalization of nanopores to tailor the adsorption/desorption properties of water in porous silica. He has also experience in the modelling of semiconductor gas sensors deriving the sensor properties directly form physical properties of the sensor material.

The extensive expertise of Dr. Sauerwald in these fields is exemplified in the following publications:

  1. Concerning ordered mesoporous materials: T. Wagner, S. Krotzky, A. Weiß, T. Sauerwald, C.-D. Kohl, J. Roggenbuck, M. Tiemann, Capacitive Humidity Sensor for High Temperature Based on Mesoporous Silica, Sensors, 11(3) 3135-3144 (2011).T. Waitz, T. Wagner, T. Sauerwald, C.-D. Kohl, M. Tiemann, Ordered Mesoporous In2O3: Synthesis by Structure Replication and Application as a Methane Gas Sensor; Adv. Funct. Mater. 19 653-661 (2009)
  2. Concerning the preparation of VOC test gases: N. Helwig, M. Schueler, C. Bur, A. Schuetze, T. Sauerwald, Gas Mixing Apparatus for Automated Gas Sensor Characterization; Measurement Science and Technology 25, 055903 (9pp) IOP Press, (2014).
  3. Concerning deterministic models for semiconductor gas sensors: J. Dräger, S. Russ, T. Sauerwald, C.-D. Kohl, and A. Bunde, Percolation transition in the gas-induced conductance of nanograin metal oxide films with defects; J. Appl. Phys. 113, 223701 (2013),