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A Comprehensive Understanding of Predicted SOA Formation from Volatile Chemical Products
ELYSE PENNINGTON, Karl Seltzer, Havala Pye, Melissa Venecek, John Seinfeld, California Institute of Technology
Abstract Number: 276
Working Group: Missing contributors to SOA: The Role of Volatile Chemical Products (VCPS)
Abstract
Volatile chemical products (VCPs) have important implications for air quality but are not well characterized. Field studies have demonstrated the prevalence of gas-phase VCPs in urban environments, but few chamber studies have been performed to quantify their ability to form secondary organic aerosol (SOA). Structure-activity-relationships (SAR) are used to describe the properties and activities of compounds based on their chemical structure. Quantitative SAR models are useful to predict a compound’s activity in the absence of empirical data. We use existing SAR models to estimate reactivity against OH and other oxidants, volatility, partitioning and heterogeneous uptake coefficients, and other parameters relevant to SOA formation. We compare the results from multiple reactivity models, partitioning mechanisms, and multigenerational aging schemes. SOA yields are estimated using published yields of structurally similar compounds. We compile the results of these simulations to present a broad level understanding of the ability of VCPs to form SOA. This model improves our understanding of the environmental fate of VCPs, specifically the impact on SOA mass and speciation. This model can be used to better represent anthropogenic SOA formation in box and regional models.