skip to main content
Explore Scholarly Publications and Datasets in the NSF-PAR

Title: Quantifying Atmospheric Parameter Ranges for Ambient Secondary Organic Aerosol Formation
Understanding of the fundamental chemical and physical processes that lead to the formation and evolution of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) in the atmosphere has been rapidly advancing over the past decades. Many of these advancements have been achieved through laboratory studies, particularly SOA studies conducted in environmental chambers. Results from such studies are used to develop simplified representations of SOA formation in regional- and global-scale air quality models. Although it is known that there are limitations in the extent to which laboratory experiments can represent the ambient atmosphere, there have been no systematic surveys of what defines atmospheric relevance in the context of SOA formation. In this work, GEOS-Chem version 12.3 was used to quantitatively describe atmospherically relevant ranges of chemical and meteorological parameters critical for predictions of the mass, composition, and physical properties of SOA. For some parameters, atmospherically relevant ranges are generally well represented in laboratory studies. However for other parameters, significant gaps exist between atmospherically relevant ranges and typical laboratory conditions. For example, cold winter (less than 0 °C) and humid (greater than 70% RH) conditions are relatively common on the Earth’s surface but are poorly represented in published chamber data. Furthermore, the overlap in relative humidity more » and organic aerosol mass between chamber studies and ambient conditions is almost nonexistent. For parameters with significant gaps, extended laboratory studies and/or mechanistic models are needed to bridge these gaps. « less
Authors:
; ;
Award ID(s):
1822664
Publication Date:
NSF-PAR ID:
10386143
Journal Name:
ACS earth and space chemistry
Volume:
5
Issue:
9
Page Range or eLocation-ID:
2380–2397
ISSN:
2472-3452
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; ; ( , Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics)
    Abstract. Camphene, a dominant monoterpene emitted from both biogenic and pyrogenicsources, has been significantly understudied, particularly in regard tosecondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation. When camphene represents asignificant fraction of emissions, the lack of model parameterizations forcamphene can result in inadequate representation of gas-phase chemistry andunderprediction of SOA formation. In this work, the first mechanistic study of SOA formation from camphene was performed using the Generator for Explicit Chemistry and Kinetics of Organics in the Atmosphere (GECKO-A). GECKO-A was used to generate gas-phase chemical mechanisms for camphene and two well-studied monoterpenes, α-pinene and limonene, as well as to predict SOAmass formation and composition based on gas/particle partitioning theory. Themodel simulations represented observed trends in published gas-phase reactionpathways and SOA yields well under chamber-relevant photooxidation and darkozonolysis conditions. For photooxidation conditions, 70 % of thesimulated α-pinene oxidation products remained in the gas phasecompared to 50 % for limonene, supporting model predictions andobservations of limonene having higher SOA yields than α-pinene underequivalent conditions. The top 10 simulated particle-phase products in theα-pinene and limonene simulations represented 37 %–50 % ofthe SOA mass formed and 6 %–27 % of the hydrocarbon mass reacted. Tofacilitate comparison of camphene with α-pinene and limonene, modelsimulations were run under idealized atmospheric conditions, wherein thegas-phase oxidantmore »levels were controlled, and peroxy radicals reacted equallywith HO2 and NO. Metrics for comparison included gas-phasereactivity profiles, time-evolution of SOA mass and yields, andphysicochemical property distributions of gas- and particle-phaseproducts. The controlled-reactivity simulations demonstrated that (1)in the early stages of oxidation, camphene is predicted to form very low-volatility products, lower than α-pinene and limonene, which condenseat low mass loadings; and (2) the final simulated SOA yield for camphene(46 %) was relatively high, in between α-pinene (25 %) andlimonene (74 %). A 50 % α-pinene + 50 % limonene mixture was then used as a surrogate to represent SOA formation from camphene; while simulated SOA mass and yield were well represented, the volatility distribution of the particle-phase products was not. To demonstrate the potential importance of including a parameterized representation of SOA formation by camphene in air quality models, SOA mass and yield were predicted for three wildland fire fuels based on measured monoterpene distributions and published SOA parameterizations for α-pinene and limonene. Using the 50/50 surrogate mixture to represent camphene increased predicted SOA mass by 43 %–50 % for black spruce and by 56 %–108 % for Douglas fir. This first detailed modeling study of the gas-phase oxidation of camphene and subsequent SOA formation highlights opportunities for future measurement–model comparisons and lays a foundation for developing chemical mechanisms and SOA parameterizations for camphene that are suitable for air quality modeling.« less
  2. ; ; ; ; ( , Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics)

    Abstract. Oxidation flow reactors (OFRs) are a promising complement toenvironmental chambers for investigating atmospheric oxidation processes andsecondary aerosol formation. However, questions have been raised about howrepresentative the chemistry within OFRs is of that in the troposphere. Weinvestigate the fates of organic peroxy radicals (RO2), which playa central role in atmospheric organic chemistry, in OFRs and environmentalchambers by chemical kinetic modeling and compare to a variety of ambientconditions to help define a range of atmospherically relevant OFR operatingconditions. For most types of RO2, their bimolecular fates in OFRsare mainly RO2+HO2 and RO2+NO, similar to chambers andatmospheric studies. For substituted primary RO2 and acylRO2, RO2+RO2 can make a significant contribution tothe fate of RO2 in OFRs, chambers and the atmosphere, butRO2+RO2 in OFRs is in general somewhat less important than inthe atmosphere. At high NO, RO2+NO dominates RO2 fate inOFRs, as in the atmosphere. At a high UV lamp setting in OFRs,RO2+OH can be a major RO2 fate and RO2isomerization can be negligible for common multifunctional RO2,both of which deviate from common atmospheric conditions. In the OFR254operation mode (for which OH is generated only from the photolysismore »of addedO3), we cannot identify any conditions that can simultaneouslyavoid significant organic photolysis at 254 nm and lead to RO2lifetimes long enough (∼ 10 s) to allow atmospherically relevantRO2 isomerization. In the OFR185 mode (for which OH is generatedfrom reactions initiated by 185 nm photons), high relative humidity, low UVintensity and low precursor concentrations are recommended for theatmospherically relevant gas-phase chemistry of both stable species andRO2. These conditions ensure minor or negligible RO2+OHand a relative importance of RO2 isomerization in RO2fate in OFRs within ∼×2 of that in the atmosphere. Under theseconditions, the photochemical age within OFR185 systems can reach a fewequivalent days at most, encompassing the typical ages for maximum secondaryorganic aerosol (SOA) production. A small increase in OFR temperature mayallow the relative importance of RO2 isomerization to approach theambient values. To study the heterogeneous oxidation of SOA formed underatmospherically relevant OFR conditions, a different UV source with higherintensity is needed after the SOA formation stage, which can be done withanother reactor in series. Finally, we recommend evaluating the atmosphericrelevance of RO2 chemistry by always reporting measured and/orestimated OH, HO2, NO, NO2 and OH reactivity (or at leastprecursor composition and concentration) in all chamber and flow reactorexperiments. An easy-to-use RO2 fate estimator program is includedwith this paper to facilitate the investigation of this topic in futurestudies.

    « less
  3. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; et al ( , Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics)
    Abstract. This study presents a characterization of the hygroscopic growth behaviour and effects of different inorganic seed particles on the formation of secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) from the dark ozone-initiated oxidation of isoprene at low NOx conditions. We performed simulations of isoprene oxidation using a gas-phase chemical reaction mechanism based onthe Master Chemical Mechanism (MCM) in combination with an equilibriumgas–particle partitioning model to predict the SOA concentration. Theequilibrium model accounts for non-ideal mixing in liquid phases, includingliquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS), and is based on the AIOMFAC (Aerosol Inorganic–Organic Mixtures Functional groups Activity Coefficients) model for mixture non-ideality and the EVAPORATION (Estimation of VApour Pressure of ORganics, Accounting for Temperature,Intramolecular, and Non-additivity effects) model for pure compound vapourpressures. Measurements from the Cosmics Leaving Outdoor Droplets (CLOUD)chamber experiments, conducted at the European Organization for NuclearResearch (CERN) for isoprene ozonolysis cases, were used to aid inparameterizing the SOA yields at different atmospherically relevanttemperatures, relative humidity (RH), and reacted isoprene concentrations. To represent the isoprene-ozonolysis-derived SOA, a selection of organicsurrogate species is introduced in the coupled modelling system. The modelpredicts a single, homogeneously mixed particle phase at all relativehumidity levels for SOA formation in the absence of any inorganic seedparticles. In the presence ofmore »aqueous sulfuric acid or ammonium bisulfateseed particles, the model predicts LLPS to occur below ∼ 80 % RH, where the particles consist of an inorganic-rich liquid phase andan organic-rich liquid phase; however, this includes significant amounts of bisulfate and water partitioned to the organic-rich phase. The measurements show an enhancement in the SOA amounts at 85 % RH, compared to 35 % RH, for both the seed-free and seeded cases. The model predictions of RH-dependent SOA yield enhancements at 85 % RH vs. 35 % RH are 1.80 for a seed-free case, 1.52 for the case with ammonium bisulfate seed, and 1.06 for the case with sulfuric acid seed. Predicted SOA yields are enhanced in the presence of an aqueous inorganic seed, regardless of the seed type (ammonium sulfate, ammonium bisulfate, or sulfuric acid) in comparison with seed-free conditions at the same RH level. We discuss the comparison of model-predicted SOA yields with a selection of other laboratory studies on isoprene SOA formation conducted at different temperatures and for a variety of reacted isoprene concentrations. Those studies were conducted at RH levels at or below 40 % with reported SOA mass yields ranging from 0.3 % up to 9.0 %, indicating considerable variations. A robust feature of our associated gas–particle partitioning calculations covering the whole RH range is the predicted enhancement of SOA yield at high RH (> 80 %) compared to low RH (dry) conditions, which is explained by the effect of particle water uptake and its impact on the equilibrium partitioning of all components.« less
  4. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ( , Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics)

    Abstract. The formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) from the oxidation of β-pinene via nitrate radicals is investigated in the Georgia Tech Environmental Chamber (GTEC) facility. Aerosol yields are determined for experiments performed under both dry (relative humidity (RH) < 2 %) and humid (RH = 50 % and RH = 70 %) conditions. To probe the effects of peroxy radical (RO2) fate on aerosol formation, "RO2 + NO3 dominant" and "RO2 + HO2 dominant" experiments are performed. Gas-phase organic nitrate species (with molecular weights of 215, 229, 231, and 245 amu, which likely correspond to molecular formulas of C10H17NO4, C10H15NO5, C10H17NO5, and C10H15NO6, respectively) are detected by chemical ionization mass spectrometry (CIMS) and their formation mechanisms are proposed. The NO+ (at m/z 30) and NO2+ (at m/z 46) ions contribute about 11 % to the combined organics and nitrate signals in the typical aerosol mass spectrum, with the NO+ : NO2+ ratio ranging from 4.8 to 10.2 in all experiments conducted. The SOA yields in the "RO2 + NO3 dominant" and "RO2 + HO2 dominant" experiments are comparable. For a wide range of organic mass loadings (5.1–216.1 μg m&minus;3), the aerosol mass yield is calculated to be 27.0–104.1 %.more »Although humidity does not appear to affect SOA yields, there is evidence of particle-phase hydrolysis of organic nitrates, which are estimated to compose 45–74 % of the organic aerosol. The extent of organic nitrate hydrolysis is significantly lower than that observed in previous studies on photooxidation of volatile organic compounds in the presence of NOx. It is estimated that about 90 and 10 % of the organic nitrates formed from the β-pinene+NO3 reaction are primary organic nitrates and tertiary organic nitrates, respectively. While the primary organic nitrates do not appear to hydrolyze, the tertiary organic nitrates undergo hydrolysis with a lifetime of 3–4.5 h. Results from this laboratory chamber study provide the fundamental data to evaluate the contributions of monoterpene + NO3 reaction to ambient organic aerosol measured in the southeastern United States, including the Southern Oxidant and Aerosol Study (SOAS) and the Southeastern Center for Air Pollution and Epidemiology (SCAPE) study.

    « less
  5. ; ( , Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics)
    Abstract. Heterogeneous chemistry of oxidized carbons in aerosol phase is known to significantly contribute to secondary organic aerosol (SOA) burdens. TheUNIfied Partitioning Aerosol phase Reaction (UNIPAR) model was developed to process the multiphase chemistry of various oxygenated organics into SOAmass predictions in the presence of salted aqueous phase. In this study, the UNIPAR model simulated the SOA formation from gasoline fuel, which is amajor contributor to the observed concentration of SOA in urban areas. The oxygenated products, predicted by the explicit mechanism, were lumpedaccording to their volatility and reactivity and linked to stoichiometric coefficients which were dynamically constructed by predetermined mathematical equations at different NOx levels and degrees of gas aging. To improve the model feasibility in regional scales, the UNIPAR model was coupled with the Carbon Bond 6 (CB6r3) mechanism. CB6r3 estimated the hydrocarbon consumption and the concentration of radicals (i.e., RO2 and HO2) to process atmospheric aging of gas products. The organic species concentrations, estimated bystoichiometric coefficient array and the consumption of hydrocarbons, were applied to form gasoline SOA via multiphase partitioning andaerosol-phase reactions. To improve the gasoline SOA potential in ambient air, model parameters were also corrected for gas–wall partitioning(GWP). The simulated gasoline SOA mass was evaluated againstmore »observed data obtained in the University of Florida Atmospheric PHotochemical Outdoor Reactor (UF-APHOR) chamber under varying sunlight, NOx levels, aerosol acidity, humidity, temperature, and concentrations of aqueous salts and gasoline vapor. Overall, gasoline SOAwas dominantly produced via aerosol-phase reaction, regardless of the seed conditions owing to heterogeneous reactions of reactive multifunctionalorganic products. Both the measured and simulated gasoline SOA was sensitive to seed conditions showing a significant increase in SOA mass with increasing aerosol acidity and water content. A considerable difference in SOA mass appeared between two inorganic aerosol states (dry aerosol vs. wet aerosol) suggesting a large difference in SOA formation potential between arid (western United States) and humid regions (eastern United States). Additionally, aqueous reactions of organic products increased the sensitivity of gasoline SOA formation to NOx levels as well as temperature. The impact of the chamber wall on SOA formation was generally significant, and it appeared to be higher in the absence of wet salts. Based on the evaluation of UNIPAR against chamber data from 10 aromatic hydrocarbons and gasoline fuel, we conclude that the UNIPAR model with both heterogeneous reactions and the model parameters corrected for GWP can improve the ability to accurately estimate SOA mass in regional scales.« less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email