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Title: Temperature effect on phase state and reactivity controls atmospheric multiphase chemistry and transport of PAHs

Journal Article · · Science Advances
ORCiD logo [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [6]; ORCiD logo [7]
  1. Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz (Germany)
  2. Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz (Germany); Univ. of California, Irvine, CA (United States)
  3. Jinan University, Guangzhou (China); Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz (Germany)
  4. Nanjing Univ. (China); Jiangsu Provincial Collaborative Innovation Center of Climate Change, Nanjing (China)
  5. Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz (Germany); Masaryk University, Brno (Czech Republic)
  6. Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz (Germany); Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Germany)
  7. Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz (Germany); Jinan University, Guangzhou (China)

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons like benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) in atmospheric particulate matter pose a threat to human health because of their high carcinogenicity. In the atmosphere, BaP is mainly degraded through a multiphase reaction with ozone, but the fate and atmospheric transport of BaP are poorly characterized. Earlier modeling studies used reaction rate coefficients determined in laboratory experiments at room temperature, which may overestimate/underestimate degradation rates when applied under atmospheric conditions. Moreover, the effects of diffusion on the particle bulk are not well constrained, leading to large discrepancies between model results and observations. We show how regional and global distributions and transport of BaP can be explained by a new kinetic scheme that provides a realistic description of the temperature and humidity dependence of phase state, diffusivity, and reactivity of BaP-containing particles. Low temperature and humidity can substantially increase the lifetime of BaP and enhance its atmospheric dispersion through both the planetary boundary layer and the free troposphere. The new scheme greatly improves the performance of multiscale models, leading to better agreement with observed BaP concentrations in both source regions and remote regions (Arctic), which cannot be achieved by less-elaborate degradation schemes (deviations by multiple orders of magnitude). Our results highlight the importance of considering temperature and humidity effects on both the phase state of aerosol particles and the chemical reactivity of particulate air pollutants.

Research Organization:
Univ. of California, Irvine, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0018349
OSTI ID:
1499920
Journal Information:
Science Advances, Vol. 4, Issue 3; ISSN 2375-2548
Publisher:
AAASCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 72 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (14)

Second inflection point of water surface tension in the deeply supercooled regime revealed by entropy anomaly and surface structure using molecular dynamics simulations journal January 2019
Multiphase reactivity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is driven by phase separation and diffusion limitations journal May 2019
Reduction in black carbon light absorption due to multi-pollutant emission control during APEC China 2014 journal January 2018
Revolatilisation of soil-accumulated pollutants triggered by the summer monsoon in India journal January 2018
Transport, mixing and feedback of dust, biomass burning and anthropogenic pollutants in eastern Asia: a case study journal January 2018
Predicting the glass transition temperature and viscosity of secondary organic material using molecular composition journal January 2018
Amplification of light absorption of black carbon associated with air pollution journal January 2018
Predictions of diffusion rates of large organic molecules in secondary organic aerosols using the Stokes–Einstein and fractional Stokes–Einstein relations journal January 2019
Relative importance of gas uptake on aerosol and ground surfaces characterized by equivalent uptake coefficients journal January 2019
Liquid–liquid phase separation and viscosity within secondary organic aerosol generated from diesel fuel vapors journal January 2019
A review of experimental techniques for aerosol hygroscopicity studies journal January 2019
Modeling the aging process of black carbon during atmospheric transport using a new approach: a case study in Beijing journal January 2019
GEM-MACH-PAH (rev2488): a new high-resolution chemical transport model for North American polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and benzene journal January 2018
Global simulation of semivolatile organic compounds – development and evaluation of the MESSy submodel SVOC (v1.0) journal January 2019

Figures / Tables (4)


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