Residential Wood Combustion in Germany: A Twin-Site Study of Local Village Contributions to Particulate Pollutants and Their Potential Health Effects.

Residential wood combustion contributing to airborne particulate matter (PM) was studied for 1 year at two sites in the village of Melpitz. Significant excess pollution was observed at the Melpitz center compared to that at the TROPOS research station Melpitz reference site, situated only 700 m away. Local concentration increments at the village site for the combustion PM constituents organic carbon, elemental carbon, levoglucosan, and benzo[a]pyrene were determined under appropriate wind directions, and their winter mean values were 0.

A solid-phase microextraction method for the in vivo sampling of MTBE in common reed (Phragmites australis).

Phytoscreening of phytoremediation-based plantings is discussed as a promising monitoring tool in literature. We developed and applied an analytical procedure for the in vivo sampling of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) in the common reed (Phragmites australis) from a phytoremediation site highly polluted with MTBE. The approach uses solid-phase microextraction (SPME) with the SPME fibre directly introduced into the aerenchyma of the plant stem.

Capability of headspace based sample preparation methods for the determination of methyl tert-butyl ether and benzene in reed (phragmites australis) from constructed wetlands.

In order to investigate the fate of volatile pollutants such as methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) and benzene during the treatment of contaminated water using constructed wetlands, appropriate analytical methods for the analysis of wetland marsh plants, in our case common reed (Phragmites australis), are required. Different sampling procedures and different headspace (HS) based sample preparation techniques were examined to select and establish the most suited procedure for determining the target analytes in plant material. Static HS, dynamic HS and HS solid phase microextraction (SPME) in combination with GC-MS were optimized and evaluated regarding the extraction yields and their capability for quantitative analysis.