Abstract View
Connecting Composition to Reactivity for Fragrances and Their Emissions
JAMES HURLEY, Jessica Gilman, Brian McDonald, Matthew Coggon, Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz, Virginia Tech
Abstract Number: 303
Working Group: Carbonaceous Aerosol
Abstract
Atmospheric oxidation of volatile chemical products (VCPs), which include consumer items such as personal care products, air fresheners, cleaning agents, etc., has been recently shown to account for a substantial fraction of organic aerosol in urban environments. Many of these products include fragrances, which are often comprised of volatile and reactive components, though their composition is frequently proprietary and/or unpublished. In this study, 11 commercially available fragrances were analyzed for their composition, and their evaporation and impacts on air chemistry were modeled. The liquid fragrance components were identified by Gas chromatography-Mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and quantified through GC-FID (Flame Ionization Detection). 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%). Fragrance compounds were generally less than half the mass of liquid fragrances, with the balance comprised of solvents and plasticizers and unresolved mass thought to be dominated by solvents and plasticizers. 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. Terpenes and terpenoids account for nearly all the emitted mass and reactivity while only comprising ~10% w/w on average of the liquid fragrances, and evolve on timescales of only a few hours. Due to varying fragrance composition, particularly the quantities of terpenes, there are orders of magnitude differences in the amounts of carbon and oxidant reactivity emitted by the different fragrances. 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.