Application of cost-efficient particulate matter measurement devices in an urban network and comparison to state-of-the-art air quality monitoring

22 cost-efficient (aka ‘low-cost’) commercially available particulate matter (PM) measurement devices were installed in a diverse urban area in Leipzig, Germany. The instruments measure mostly PM2.5, some additionally PM10, and are equipped with methods for quality assurance such as conditioning to a defined temperature and regular internal calibration. In order to investigate the spread between the instruments and to enable a pre-campaign calibration, all instruments were setup in the laboratory and the outside air and compared against the same reference measurements.

Since July 2022, the measurement network was installed. It covers roughly 2x2 km² and holds different urban features like residential and commercial buildings, important main roads, city parks, and small open building gaps. Within the network there is an official air quality monitoring station located directly at a main road. In addition, at two further official monitoring stations as well as at observation stations of the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research instruments were installed to study the long-term performance, dependence on meteorological conditions and comparison to reference measurements. The measurements will take place until end of 2023.

The cost-efficient instruments perform generally quite well after the calibration. In particularly for higher PM loads > 10 µg m^-3 the agreement against references is mostly satisfying. However, under very high relative humidity and cold temperatures, some instruments lacked to condition the air sufficiently. Despite these difficulties, the chosen instruments have the potential for application in monitoring of air quality limit values, i.e. the answer the question how often are certain limits exceeded.

Furthermore, differences between different local features in the observation area could be observed in e.g., the diurnal cycle but also peak and mean concentrations.

This work is co-financed with tax funds on the basis of the budget passed by the Saxon State Parliament (funding number 100582357).