AAAR 36th Annual Conference October 16 - October 20, 2017 Raleigh Convention Center Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Abstract View
Characterization of a Smog Chamber for Analysis of the Formation, Physicochemical, and Optical Properties of Aging Biomass Burning Aerosol
DAMON SMITH, Marquin Spann, Marc Fiddler, Solomon Bililign, North Carolina A&T State University
Abstract Number: 749 Working Group: Instrumentation and Methods
Abstract Biomass burning (BB) is recognized as one of the largest sources of absorbing aerosols in the atmosphere and significantly influences the radiative properties of the atmosphere. The chemical composition and physical properties of particles evolve during their atmospheric lifetime due to condensation, oxidation reactions, etc. Changes in chemical composition due to aging is likely to change the optical properties of these particles as well. To this end, an indoor smog chamber, having a volume of ~9 m3, was constructed to study aging BB aerosol in a laboratory setting. Injections to the chamber, such as NOx, O3, and various biogenic and anthropogenic VOCs, can simulate a variety of atmospheric conditions. These components and some of their oxidation products can be monitored and characterized during the aging process. A tube furnace is used for combustion of biomass to be introduced into the chamber, while size distributions are taken as the aerosol ages. Optical properties are measured from samples taken directly from the chamber and analyzed using a Cavity Ring-down Spectrometry and Integrating Nephelometry system.