scholarly journals Influence of relative humidity on the heterogeneous oxidation of secondary organic aerosol

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (19) ◽  
pp. 14585-14608 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziyue Li ◽  
Katherine A. Smith ◽  
Christopher D. Cappa
Keyword(s):  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Mass Loss ◽  
Mass Spectra ◽  
Secondary Organic Aerosol ◽  
Complex Mixture ◽  
Organic Aerosol ◽  
Oh Radicals ◽  
Heterogeneous Oxidation ◽  
Substantial Impact ◽  
The Difference

Abstract. Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) is a complex mixture of hundreds of semi-volatile to extremely low-volatility organic compounds that are chemically processed in the atmosphere, including via heterogeneous oxidation by gas-phase radicals. Relative humidity (RH) has a substantial impact on particle phase, which can affect how SOA evolves in the atmosphere. In this study, SOA from dark α-pinene ozonolysis is heterogeneously aged by OH radicals in a flow tube at low and high RH. At high RH (RH =89 %) there is substantial loss of particle volume (∼60 %) at an equivalent atmospheric OH exposure of 3 weeks. In contrast, at low RH (RH =25 %) there is little mass loss (<20 %) at the same OH exposure. Mass spectra of the SOA particles were measured as a function of OH exposure using a vacuum ultraviolet aerosol mass spectrometer (VUV-AMS). The mass spectra observed at low RH overall exhibit minor changes with oxidation and negligible further changes above an OH exposure =2×1012 molecule cm−3 s suggesting limited impact of oxidation on the particle composition. In contrast, the mass spectra observed at high RH exhibit substantial and continuous changes as a function of OH exposure. Further, at high RH clusters of peaks in the mass spectra exhibit unique decay patterns, suggesting different responses of various species to oxidation. A model of heterogeneous oxidation has been developed to understand the origin of the difference in aging between the low- and high-RH experiments. Differences in diffusivity of the SOA between the low- and high-RH experiments alone can explain the difference in compositional change but cannot explain the difference in mass loss. Instead, the difference in mass loss is attributable to RH-dependent differences in the OH uptake coefficient and/or the net probability of fragmentation, with either or both larger at high RH compared to low RH. These results illustrate the important impact of relative humidity on the fate of SOA in the atmosphere.

scholarly journals Influence of Relative Humidity on the Heterogeneous Oxidation of Secondary Organic Aerosol

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziyue Li ◽  
Katherine A. Smith ◽  
Christopher D. Cappa
Keyword(s):  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Gas Phase ◽  
Secondary Organic Aerosol ◽  
Complex Mixture ◽  
Organic Aerosol ◽  
Oh Radicals ◽  
Particle Phase ◽  
Particle Volume ◽  
Heterogeneous Oxidation ◽  
Substantial Impact

Abstract. Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) is a complex mixture of hundreds of semi volatile to extremely low volatility organic compounds that are chemically processed in the atmosphere, including via heterogeneous oxidation by gas phase radicals. Relative humidity (RH) has a substantial impact on particle phase, which can affect how SOA evolves in the atmosphere. In this study, SOA from dark α-pinene ozonolysis is heterogeneously aged by OH radicals in a flowtube at low and high RH. At high RH (RH = 89 %) there is substantial loss of particle volume (~ 60 %) at an equivalent atmospheric OH exposure of 3 weeks. In contrast, at low RH (RH = 25 %) there is little mass loss (

scholarly journals Chemical evolution of secondary organic aerosol from OH-initiated heterogeneous oxidation

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 3265-3300 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. J. George ◽  
J. P. D. Abbatt
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectra ◽  
Secondary Organic Aerosol ◽  
Organic Aerosol ◽  
Oxidation Products ◽  
Oh Radicals ◽  
Heterogeneous Oxidation ◽  
Atmospheric Aging ◽  
Aerosol Mass ◽  
Degree Of Oxidation ◽  
Aerosol Aging

Abstract. The heterogeneous oxidation of laboratory Secondary Organic Aerosol (SOA) particles by OH radicals was investigated. SOA particles, produced by reaction of α-pinene and O3, were exposed to OH radicals in a flow tube, and particle chemical composition, size, and hygroscopicity were measured to assess modifications due to oxidative aging. Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) mass spectra indicated that the degree of oxidation of SOA particles was significantly enhanced due to OH-initiated oxidation. Particle O/C ratios calculated from m/z 44 fraction from organic mass spectra rose by a maximum of ~0.04 units under equivalent atmospheric aging timescales of 2 weeks assuming a 24-h average OH concentration of 106 cm−3. Particle densities also increased with heterogeneous oxidation, consistent with the observed increase in the degree of oxidation. Minor reductions in particle size, with volume losses of up to 10%, were observed due to volatilization of oxidation products. The SOA particles became slightly more CCN active with an increase in the κ hygroscopicity parameter of up to a factor of two for the equivalent of 2 weeks of OH atmospheric exposure. These results indicate that OH heterogeneous oxidation of typical SOA proceeds sufficiently rapidly to be an atmospherically important organic aerosol aging mechanism.

scholarly journals Secondary organic aerosol formation from OH-initiated oxidation of <i>m</i>-xylene: effects of relative humidity on yield and chemical composition

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qun Zhang ◽  
Yongfu Xu ◽  
Long Jia
Keyword(s):  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Mass Spectrometer ◽  
Secondary Organic Aerosol ◽  
Organic Aerosol ◽  
Chemical Mechanism ◽  
Oh Radicals ◽  
Aerosol Formation ◽  
Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer ◽  
Significant Discrepancy ◽  
Liquid Chromatograph

Abstract. The effect of relative humidity (RH) on the secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation from the photooxidation of m-xylene initiated by OH radicals in the absence of seed particles was investigated in a smog chamber. The SOA yields were determined based on the particle mass concentrations measured with a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) and reacted m-xylene concentrations measured with a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS). The SOA components were analyzed using Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) and ultrahigh performance liquid chromatograph-electrospray ionization-high-resolution mass spectrometer (UPLC-ESI-HRMS). A significant discrepancy was observed in SOA mass concentration and yield variation with the RH conditions. The SOA yield is 13.8 % and 0.8 % at low RH (13.7 %) and high RH (79.1 %), respectively, with the difference being over an order of magnitude. The relative increase of C-O-C at high RH from the FTIR analysis of functional groups indicates that the oligomers from carbonyl compounds cannot well explain the suppression of SOA yield. Highly oxygenated molecules (HOMs) were observed to be suppressed in the HRMS spectra. The chemical mechanism for explaining the RH effects on SOA formation from m-xylene-OH system is proposed based on the analysis of both FTIR and HRMS measurements as well as Master Chemical Mechanism (MCM) simulations. The reduced SOA at high RH is mainly ascribed to the less formation of oligomers and the suppression of RO2 autoxidation. As a result, high RH can obstruct the oligomerization and autoxidation that contribute to the SOA formation.

scholarly journals Comparison of secondary organic aerosol formation from toluene on initially wet and dry ammonium sulfate particles at moderate relative humidity

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 5677-5689 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tengyu Liu ◽  
Dan Dan Huang ◽  
Zijun Li ◽  
Qianyun Liu ◽  
ManNin Chan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Ammonium Sulfate ◽  
Functional Groups ◽  
Flow Reactor ◽  
Secondary Organic Aerosol ◽  
Organic Aerosol ◽  
Aerosol Formation ◽  
Seed Particles ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Wet Particles

Abstract. The formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) has been widely studied in the presence of dry seed particles at low relative humidity (RH). At higher RH, initially dry seed particles can exist as wet particles due to water uptake by the seeds as well as the SOA. Here, we investigated the formation of SOA from the photooxidation of toluene using an oxidation flow reactor in the absence of NOx under a range of OH exposures on initially wet or dry ammonium sulfate (AS) seed particles at an RH of 68 %. The ratio of the SOA yield on wet AS seeds to that on dry AS seeds, the relative SOA yield, decreased from 1.31 ± 0.02 at an OH exposure of 4.66 × 1010 molecules cm−3 s to 1.01 ± 0.01 at an OH exposure of 5.28 × 1011 molecules cm−3 s. This decrease may be due to the early deliquescence of initially dry AS seeds after being coated by highly oxidized toluene-derived SOA. SOA formation lowered the deliquescence RH of AS and resulted in the uptake of water by both AS and SOA. Hence the initially dry AS seeds contained aerosol liquid water (ALW) soon after SOA formed, and the SOA yield and ALW approached those of the initially wet AS seeds as OH exposure and ALW increased, especially at high OH exposure. However, a higher oxidation state of the SOA on initially wet AS seeds than that on dry AS seeds was observed at all levels of OH exposure. The difference in mass fractions of m ∕ z 29, 43 and 44 of SOA mass spectra, obtained using an aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS), indicated that SOA formed on initially wet seeds may be enriched in earlier-generation products containing carbonyl functional groups at low OH exposures and later-generation products containing acidic functional groups at high exposures. Our results suggest that inorganic dry seeds become at least partially deliquesced particles during SOA formation and hence that ALW is inevitably involved in the SOA formation at moderate RH. More laboratory experiments conducted with a wide variety of SOA precursors and inorganic seeds under different NOx and RH conditions are warranted.

scholarly journals Secondary organic aerosol formation from OH-initiated oxidation of <i>m</i>-xylene: effects of relative humidity on yield and chemical composition

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (23) ◽  
pp. 15007-15021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qun Zhang ◽  
Yongfu Xu ◽  
Long Jia
Keyword(s):  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Mass Spectrometer ◽  
Secondary Organic Aerosol ◽  
Carbon Number ◽  
Organic Aerosol ◽  
Chemical Mechanism ◽  
Oh Radicals ◽  
Phase Reaction ◽  
Aerosol Formation ◽  
Liquid Chromatograph

Abstract. The effect of relative humidity (RH) on secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation from the photooxidation of m-xylene initiated by OH radicals in the absence of seed particles was investigated in a Teflon reactor. The SOA yields were determined based on the particle mass concentrations measured with a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) and reacted m-xylene concentrations measured with a gas chromatograph–mass spectrometer (GC-MS). The SOA components were analyzed using a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer and an ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatograph–electrospray ionization–high-resolution mass spectrometer (UPLC-ESI-HRMS). A significant decrease was observed in SOA mass concentration and yield variation with the increasing RH conditions. The SOA yields are 14.0 %–16.5 % and 0.8 %–3.2 % at low RH (14 %) and high RH (74 %–79 %), respectively, with the difference being nearly 1 order of magnitude. Some of the reduction in the apparent yield may be due to the faster wall loss of semi-volatile products of oxidation at higher RH. The chemical mechanism for explaining the RH effects on SOA formation from m-xylene–OH system is proposed based on the analysis of both FTIR and HRMS measurements, and the Master Chemical Mechanism (MCM) prediction is used as the assistant. The FTIR analysis shows that the proportion of oligomers with C-O-C groups from carbonyl compounds in SOA at high RH is higher than that at low RH, but further information cannot be provided by the FTIR results to well explain the negative RH effect on SOA formation. In the HRMS spectra, it is found that C2H2O is one of the most frequent mass differences at low and high RHs, that the compounds with a lower carbon number in the formula at low RH account for a larger proportion than those at high RH and that the compounds at high RH have higher O : C ratios than those at low RH. The HRMS results suggest that the RH may suppress oligomerization where water is involved as a by-product and may influence the further particle-phase reaction of highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs) formed in the gas phase. In addition, the negative RH effect on SOA formation is enlarged based on the gas-to-particle partitioning rule.

scholarly journals Chemical evolution of secondary organic aerosol from OH-initiated heterogeneous oxidation

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 5551-5563 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. J. George ◽  
J. P. D. Abbatt
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Organic Aerosol ◽  
Organic Aerosol ◽  
Oxidation Products ◽  
Oh Radicals ◽  
Cloud Droplets ◽  
Heterogeneous Oxidation ◽  
Atmospheric Aging ◽  
Aerosol Mass ◽  
Degree Of Oxidation ◽  
Aging Mechanisms

Abstract. The heterogeneous oxidation of laboratory Secondary Organic Aerosol (SOA) particles by OH radicals was investigated. SOA particles, produced by reaction of α-pinene and O3, were exposed to OH radicals in a flow tube, and particle chemical composition, size, and hygroscopicity were measured to assess modifications due to oxidative aging. Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) mass spectra indicated that the degree of oxidation of 200 nm diameter SOA particles was significantly enhanced due to OH-initiated oxidation, as evidenced by the increase in the fraction of m/z 44 fragment of total organic mass concentration (F44). F44 values of the SOA particles, initially in the range F44=0.04–0.07, increased by up to ΔF44~0.01 under equivalent atmospheric aging timescales of 2 weeks, assuming a 24-h average OH concentration of 106 cm−3. Particle O/C ratios calculated from F44 values, initially in the range O/C=0.25–0.35, rose by a maximum of ΔO/C~0.04 units for 2 weeks of aging. Particle densities also increased with heterogeneous oxidation, consistent with the observed increase in the degree of oxidation. Minor reductions in particle size, with volume losses of up to 10%, were observed due to volatilization of oxidation products. The SOA particles activated more readily to form cloud droplets with an increase in the κ hygroscopicity parameter of up to a factor of two for the equivalent of 2 weeks of OH atmospheric exposure. These results indicate that OH heterogeneous oxidation of typical SOA needs to be considered as an atmospheric organic aerosol aging mechanism, most likely of higher relative importance away from VOC source regions, where other aging mechanisms are less dominant.

scholarly journals Secondary organic aerosol formation from biomass burning emissions

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Y. Lim ◽  
David H. Hagan ◽  
Matthew M. Coggon ◽  
Abigail R. Koss ◽  
Kanako Sekimoto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Secondary Organic Aerosol ◽  
Total Concentration ◽  
Organic Aerosol ◽  
Oh Radicals ◽  
Aerosol Formation ◽  
Atmospheric Aging ◽  
Aerosol Mass ◽  
Photochemical Aging ◽  
Organic Gases

Abstract. Biomass burning is an important source of aerosol and trace gases to the atmosphere, but how these emissions change chemically during their lifetimes is not fully understood. As part of the Fire Influence on Regional and Global Environments Experiment (FIREX 2016), we investigated the effect of photochemical aging on biomass burning organic aerosol (BBOA), with a focus on fuels from the western United States. Emissions were sampled into a small (150 L) environmental chamber and photochemically aged via the addition of ozone and irradiation by 254 nm light. While some fraction of species undergoes photolysis, the vast majority of aging occurs via reaction with OH radicals, with total OH exposures corresponding to the equivalent of up to 10 days of atmospheric oxidation. For all fuels burned, large and rapid changes are seen in the ensemble chemical composition of BBOA, as measured by an aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS). Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation is seen for all aging experiments and continues to grow with increasing OH exposure, but the magnitude of the SOA formation is highly variable between experiments. This variability can be explained well by a combination of experiment-to-experiment differences in OH exposure and the total concentration of non-methane organic gases (NMOGs) in the chamber before oxidation, measured by PTR-ToF-MS (r2 values from 0.64 to 0.83). From this relationship, we calculate the fraction of carbon from biomass burning NMOGs that is converted to SOA as a function of equivalent atmospheric aging time, with carbon yields ranging from 24 ± 4 % after 6 hours to 56 ± 9 % after 4 days.

scholarly journals Large contribution to secondary organic aerosol from isoprene cloud chemistry

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (13) ◽  
pp. eabe2952
Author(s):  
Houssni Lamkaddam ◽  
Josef Dommen ◽  
Ananth Ranjithkumar ◽  
Hamish Gordon ◽  
Günther Wehrle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Flow Reactor ◽  
Secondary Organic Aerosol ◽  
Cloud Droplet ◽  
Organic Aerosol ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Oxidation Products ◽  
Oh Radicals ◽  
Large Contribution ◽  
Cloud Processing

Aerosols still present the largest uncertainty in estimating anthropogenic radiative forcing. Cloud processing is potentially important for secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation, a major aerosol component: however, laboratory experiments fail to mimic this process under atmospherically relevant conditions. We developed a wetted-wall flow reactor to simulate aqueous-phase processing of isoprene oxidation products (iOP) in cloud droplets. We find that 50 to 70% (in moles) of iOP partition into the aqueous cloud phase, where they rapidly react with OH radicals, producing SOA with a molar yield of 0.45 after cloud droplet evaporation. Integrating our experimental results into a global model, we show that clouds effectively boost the amount of SOA. We conclude that, on a global scale, cloud processing of iOP produces 6.9 Tg of SOA per year or approximately 20% of the total biogenic SOA burden and is the main source of SOA in the mid-troposphere (4 to 6 km).

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