American Association for Aerosol Research - Abstract Submission

AAAR 38th Annual Conference
October 5 - October 9, 2020

Virtual Conference

Abstract View


Connecting Composition to Reactivity for Fragrances and Their Emissions

JAMES HURLEY, Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz, Virginia Tech

     Abstract Number: 150
     Working Group: Aerosol Chemistry

Abstract
Atmospheric oxidation of volatile consumer products (personal care products, cleaning agents air fresheners, etc.) has recently been shown to account for a substantial fraction of organic aerosol in urban environments. Many of these products include fragrances, which may contain reactive and/or volatile components, but their composition is often proprietary or unpublished. In this study, 11 commercially available fragrances were analyzed for their composition, and their evaporation and impacts on local chemistry were modeled. The components of the fragrance were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and carefully quantified using a GC coupled to a flame ionization detection (FID). Each fragrance was found to be dominated by between 2 and 9 resolved and identified components, which on average accounted for approximately half of their mass (range: 25-93%). The evaporation of each fragrance was modeled to estimate the timescales and magnitudes of the evaporated mass, and the emission of hydroxyl and ozone reactivity. While only a small fraction of total fragrance mass was comprised of terpenes (primarily limonene), these components were found to dominate the emission of reactivity due to their high volatility and reactivity (with both hydroxyl radical and ozone). Given the dominance of terpenes, most reactivity is emitted in the first several hours, but lower levels reactivity may continue to be emitted for days from a fragrance. Due in large part to the varying presence of terpenes, the total amount of reactivity evaporated may differ by an order of magnitude between different fragrance formulations. Consequently, detailed composition analyses such as those presented here are critical for estimating the growing influence that consumer products exert on aerosol formation and air pollution in urban areas.