Secondary Organic Aerosol Formation and Organic Nitrate Yield from NO3 Oxidation of Biogenic Hydrocarbons

• Published in: Environmental science & technology 2014-10, Vol.48 (20), p.11944-11953
• Main Authors: Fry, Juliane L, Draper, Danielle C, Barsanti, Kelley C, Smith, James N, Ortega, John, Winkler, Paul M, Lawler, Michael J, Brown, Steven S, Edwards, Peter M, Cohen, Ronald C, Lee, Lance
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: aerosols; Aerosols - chemistry; Air Pollutants - analysis; Air Pollutants - chemistry; alpha-pinene; Applied sciences; Atmospheric pollution; beta-caryophyllene; beta-pinene; Bridged Bicyclo Compounds - chemistry; carene; Cyclohexenes - chemistry; Earth, ocean, space; emissions; Exact sciences and technology; External geophysics; Kinetics; Limonene; Meteorology; Monoterpenes - chemistry; nitrates; Nitrates - chemistry; oxidation; Particles and aerosols; Pollutants physicochemistry study: properties, effects, reactions, transport and distribution; Pollution; polytetrafluoroethylene; sabinene; Sesquiterpenes - chemistry; Terpenes - chemistry; volatile organic compounds; Volatile Organic Compounds - chemistry
• ISSN: 0013-936X; 1520-5851; 1520-5851
• DOI: 10.1021/es502204x

The secondary organic aerosol (SOA) mass yields from NO3 oxidation of a series of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), consisting of five monoterpenes and one sesquiterpene (α-pinene, β-pinene, Δ-3-carene, limonene, sabinene, and β-caryophyllene), were investigated in a series of continuous flow experiments in a 10 m3 indoor Teflon chamber. By making in situ measurements of the nitrate radical and employing a kinetics box model, we generate time-dependent yield curves as a function of reacted BVOC. SOA yields varied dramatically among the different BVOCs, from zero for α-pinene to 38–65% for Δ-3-carene and 86% for β-caryophyllene at mass loading of 10 μg m–3, suggesting that model mechanisms that treat all NO3 + monoterpene reactions equally will lead to errors in predicted SOA depending on each location’s mix of BVOC emissions. In most cases, organonitrate is a dominant component of the aerosol produced, but in the case of α-pinene, little organonitrate and no aerosol is formed.