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Indoor heterogeneous photochemistry of furfural drives emissions of nitrous acid
Author(s) -
Depoorter Antoine,
Kalalian Carmen,
Emmelin Corinne,
Lorentz Chantal,
George Christian
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
indoor air
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.387
H-Index - 99
eISSN - 1600-0668
pISSN - 0905-6947
DOI - 10.1111/ina.12758
Subject(s) - furfural , nitrous acid , chemistry , nox , environmental chemistry , photochemistry , nitrate , adsorption , irradiation , inorganic chemistry , organic chemistry , combustion , catalysis , physics , nuclear physics
People spend approximately 80% of their time indoor, making the understanding of the indoor chemistry an important task for safety. The high surface‐area‐to‐volume ratio characteristic of indoor environments leads the semi‐volatile organic compounds (sVOCs) to deposit on the surfaces. Using a long path absorption photometer (LOPAP), this work investigates the formation of nitrous acid (HONO) through the photochemistry of adsorbed nitrate anions and its enhancement by the presence of furfural. Using a high‐resolution proton‐transfer‐reaction time‐of‐flight mass spectrometer (PTR‐TOF‐MS), this work also investigates the surface emissions of VOCs from irradiated films of furfural and a mix of furfural and nitrate anions. Among the emitted VOCs, 2(5H)‐furanone/2‐Butenedial was observed at high concentrations, leading to maleic anhydride formation after UV irradiation. Moreover, the addition of potassium nitrate to the film formed NO x and HONO concentrations up to 10 ppb, which scales to ca. 4 ppb for realistic indoor conditions. This work helps to understand the high levels of HONO and NO x measured indoors.