Development of Interlaboratory Comparison Test Samples and Reference Materials for the Quality Assurance of Air Composition Measurements

This article presents an approach to the development of interlaboratory comparison test samples and respective reference materials for use in the metrological assurance of measurements of hazardous substances in the ambient air. Solid and liquid sorbents, as well as air filters, were used in experiments. Measurement methods comprised photometry, atomic absorption spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. An optimized algorithm is presented for developing multi-purpose test samples that can be used for the metrological assurance of a large number of methods for analysing ambient air quality. The described approach has been used to develop test samples for laboratory proficiency testing and respective reference materials, which can be used in validation of measurement techniques for analysing ambient air quality, calibration of measurement instruments, as well as in the internal and external quality control of results obtained during ambient air quality measurements.