Production, Processes, and Parameters for Secondary Organic Aerosol from Oxygenated Volatile Organic Compounds Found in Volatile Chemical Products
Huiying Luo, Masoud Akbarzadeh, Abraham Dearden, Jamie Cast, Amel Ksaibati, Alison Piasecki, Ann M. Middlebrook, Lauren A. Garofalo, Delphine K. Farmer, Katelyn Rediger, Matthew Coggon, Carsten Warneke, Cort Zang, Tucker Melles, Audrey Lawrence, Megan Willis, Chelsea Stockwell, Lu Xu, Damien Ketcherside, Lu Tan, Lixu Jin, Lu Hu, Rebecca Schwantes, SHANTANU JATHAR, et al., Colorado State University
Abstract Number: 515
Working Group: Chemicals of Emerging Concern in Aerosol: Sources, Transformations, and Impacts
Abstract
With limited laboratory studies and current knowledge, Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) production from oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs) is inadequately represented in atmospheric models. In response, the Secondary organic aerosol Chamber Experiments on Non-Traditional Species (SCENTS) initiative conducted a set of 27 experiments in a 10 m3 environmental chamber at Colorado State University to study the oxidation chemistry of 14 diverse Volatile Chemical Products (VCP) OVOCs under atmospherically relevant conditions, with additional sensitivity tests on carbitol, benzyl alcohol, furan, and furfural. In this work, we analyzed and modeled the measurements using the Statistical Oxidation Model (SOM)-TwO Moment Aerosol Sectional (TOMAS) model to understand the influence of carbon and oxygen numbers, functional moieties, NOx levels, and relative humidity on SOA mass yields. Consistent with previous works, benzyl alcohol exhibited rapid and substantial SOA production with mass yields up to 100% under high NOx conditions. Furfural oxidation led to high SOA mass yields (up to 27%), with approximately half formed via aqueous pathways. Peak SOA mass yields for furan and carbitol were both around 10%. While dipropylene glycol methyl ether and dipropylene glycol butyl ether were not as efficient in forming SOA compared to other glycol ethers (carbitol, butyl carbitol). Additionally, linalool, α-terpineol, texanol, D4 siloxane, butyl acetate, dipropylene glycol, and ethyl cyanoacrylate formed little to no SOA. As a result, volatility basis set (VBS) parameters, employed in numerous chemical mechanisms to model SOA formation and organic aerosol evolution, have been developed for these compounds. To understand the impact of NOx levels and relative humidity on SOA, we are also probing the SOA composition by examining differences in the aerosol mass spectra. This study serves to advance future quantification of SOA contribution from both anthropogenic and natural sources of OVOCs.