AAAR 37th Annual Conference October 14 - October 18, 2019 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Dynamic Equilibria of Volatile Chemicals between Indoor Surfaces and Indoor Air
JONATHAN ABBATT, Douglas Collins, Chen Wang, University of Toronto, Canada
Abstract Number: 85 Working Group: The Air We Breathe: Indoor Aerosol Sources and Chemistry
Abstract Molecules that are viewed as volatile under outdoor conditions exhibit semi-volatile behavior indoors, given the very high surface areas available in the environments in which we spend much of our time. This behavior has been demonstrated through short-term ventilation experiments in two houses, one in Texas as part of the HOMEChem field campaign and one in Toronto. For a variety of acids (HNCO, HONO and carboxylic acids with 1 to 9 carbons), the same behavior was observed: The signals dropped upon ventilation as outdoor air filled the space, followed by a rapid rise of signal after the windows and doors were closed which is indicative of re-partitioning of surface-sorbed molecules to the gas phase. The timescales of this response will be discussed as an indication of the labile nature of these sorbed species. The likelihood of partitioning to either organic- or water-rich media on the surfaces will be examined using thermodynamic partitioning modeling. Further consequences of this partitioning behavior in terms of surface reactions will also be discussed.