Online monitoring of aerosols with an energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer

A continuously working sampling and analyzing device was developed and test ed. It is suitable for monitoring of metals bound to particulate matter in emissions of stack gases. The samples were precipitated on a pure quartz fi ber filter tape and analyzed shortly afterwards non-destructively by an ene rgy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDXRS). By using this method a wide rang e of elements with atomic numbers from 19 (K) to 82 (Pb) can be analyzed. N ew experiments have shown that the novel combined particle sampling and ana lysis system (X-DUST) could also successfully be used for the monitoring of toxic elements in ambient air.