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Effect of hydrophobic primary organic aerosols on secondary organic aerosol formation from ozonolysis of α ‐pinene
Author(s) -
Song Chen,
Zaveri Rahul A.,
Alexander M. Lizabeth,
Thornton Joel A.,
Madronich Sasha,
Ortega John V.,
Zelenyuk Alla,
Yu XiaoYing,
Laskin Alexander,
Maughan David A.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2007gl030720
Subject(s) - aerosol , ozonolysis , primary (astronomy) , environmental chemistry , pinene , phthalate , chemistry , environmental science , organic chemistry , physics , astronomy
Semi‐empirical secondary organic aerosol (SOA) models typically assume a well‐mixed organic aerosol phase even in the presence of hydrophobic primary organic aerosols (POA). This assumption significantly enhances the modeled SOA yields as additional organic mass is made available to absorb greater amounts of oxidized secondary organic gases than otherwise. We investigate the applicability of this critical assumption by measuring SOA yields from ozonolysis of α ‐pinene (a major biogenic SOA precursor) in a smog chamber in the absence and in the presence of dioctyl phthalate (DOP) and lubricating oil seed aerosol. These particles serve as surrogates for urban hydrophobic POA. The results show that these POA did not enhance the SOA yields. If these results are found to apply to other biogenic SOA precursors, then the semi‐empirical models used in many global models would predict significantly less biogenic SOA mass and display reduced sensitivity to anthropogenic POA emissions than previously thought.