AAAR 37th Annual Conference October 14 - October 18, 2019 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
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Indoor New Particle Formation: An “Outsider’s” Perspective
JAMES SMITH, Michael J. Lawler, Danielle C. Draper, Sabrina Chee, Hayley Glicker, Xiaoxiao Li, University of California, Irvine
Abstract Number: 472 Working Group: The Air We Breathe: Indoor Aerosol Sources and Chemistry
Abstract For the past two decades, my colleagues and I have sought to understand the species and mechanisms that are responsible for the formation and growth of atmospheric nanoparticles. Our main tool for this task has been the Thermal Desorption Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometer (TDCIMS), an instrument developed specifically for the measurement of the molecular composition of ambient, size-selected particles as small as 5 nm in diameter. In this presentation, I will provide an overview of the insights that we have gained using TDCIMS, along with measurements performed on key gas phase precursors and other relevant parameters, focusing on the question: “What can our outdoor observations and laboratory experiments tell us about potential sources of new indoor nanoparticles?” This presentation will center on three processes that may have relevance to indoor air quality: the generation of highly oxidized compounds from the ozonolysis of organic compounds, the generation of organic and inorganic salt particles from acid-base chemistry, and the production of primary biological nanoparticles. For each of these mechanisms, I will consider the environmental conditions (e.g., temperature, relative humidity, condensation sink) and precursor concentrations that are associated with the formation and growth of nanoparticles and their relevance to indoor air quality.