Gas/Particle Partitioning of Semivolatile Organic Compounds To Model Inorganic, Organic, and Ambient Smog Aerosols
Abstract
Gas/particle (G/P) partitioning is an important process that affects the deposition, chemical reactions, long-range transport, and impact on human and ecosystem health of atmospheric semivolatile organic compounds (SOCs). Gas/particle partitioning coefficients (K_p) were measured in an outdoor chamber for a group of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and n-alkanes sorbing to three types of model aerosol materials: solid ammonium sulfate, liquid dioctyl phthalate (DOP), and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) generated from the photooxidation of whole gasoline vapor. K_p values were also measured for ambient n-alkanes sorbing to urban particulate material (UPM) during summer smog episodes in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Based on the K_p values obtained for the aerosols studied here, for environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), and for a quartz surface, we conclude that G/P partitioning of SOCs to UPM during summer smog episodes is dominated by absorption into the organic fraction in the aerosol. Comparisons of the partitioning of SOCs to three different types of aerosols demonstrate that (1) DOP aerosol may be a good surrogate for ambient aerosol that consists mainly of organic compounds from primary emissions; (2) ETS particles may be a good surrogate for SOA; and (3) the sorption properties of ambient smog aerosol and the chamber-generated SOA from gasoline are very similar. The similarities observed between ambient smog aerosol and chamber-generated SOA from gasoline support the use of literature SOA yield data from smog chamber studies to predict the extent of SOA formation during summer midday smog episodes.
Additional Information
© 1997 American Chemical Society. Received for review March 19, 1997. Revised manuscript received June 30, 1997. Accepted July 23, 1997. Publication Date (Web): October 29, 1997. This work was supported in part by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Exploratory Research (U.S. EPA/OER) under Grant R822312-01-0. This work was also supported in part by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Center on Airborne Organics under Grant R-819714-01-0, National Science Foundation Grant ATM-9307603, the Coordinating Research Council, and the Chevron Corporation. We gratefully acknowledge the technical assistance of Timothy P. W. Jungkamp, Robert J. Griffin, Lorne M. Isabelle, and Wentai Luo in the design, sampling preparation, and analysis phases of the experimental work. We also appreciate Martha J. Shearer and Paul G. Tratnyek for their helpful suggestions on the statistical analysis of the data. Finally, the authors would like to thank Donna Reed for assisting with many details associated with the shipment of the sampling equipment.Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 86360
- DOI
- 10.1021/es9702529
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20180510-160557448
- R822312-01-0
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- R-819714-01-0
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- ATM-9307603
- NSF
- Coordinating Research Council
- Chevron Corporation
- Created
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2018-05-10Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-15Created from EPrint's last_modified field