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Title: Production of Secondary Organic Aerosol During Aging of Biomass Burning Smoke From Fresh Fuels and Its Relationship to VOC Precursors

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2018jd029068· OSTI ID:1610932
ORCiD logo [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4]; ORCiD logo [4];  [5]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2]
  1. Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
  2. Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
  3. College of EngineeringUniversity of Georgia Athens GA USA
  4. Portland State Univ., OR (United States); Univ. of California, Riverside, CA (United States)
  5. Univ. of Montana, Missoula, MT (United States)

After smoke from burning biomass is emitted into the atmosphere, chemical and physical processes change the composition and amount of organic aerosol present in the aged, diluted plume. During the fourth Fire Lab at Missoula Experiment, we performed smog-chamber experiments to investigate formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) and multiphase oxidation of primary organic aerosol (POA). We simulated atmospheric aging of diluted smoke from a variety of biomass fuels while measuring particle composition using high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometry. We quantified SOA formation using a tracer ion for low-volatility POA as a reference standard (akin to a naturally occurring internal standard). We report these smoke aging experiments revealed variable organic aerosol (OA) enhancements, even for smoke from similar fuels and aging mechanisms. This variable OA enhancement correlated well with measured differences in the amounts of emitted volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that could subsequently be oxidized to form SOA. For some aging experiments, we were able to predict the SOA production to within a factor of 2 using a fuel-specific VOC emission inventory that was scaled by burn-specific toluene measurements. For fires of coniferous fuels that were dominated by needle burning, volatile biogenic compounds were the dominant precursor class. For wiregrass fires, furans were the dominant SOA precursors. We used a POA tracer ion to calculate the amount of mass lost due to gas-phase oxidation and subsequent volatilization of semivolatile POA. Less than 5% of the POA mass was lost via multiphase oxidation-driven evaporation during up to 2 hr of equivalent atmospheric oxidation.

Research Organization:
Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Science Foundation (NSF); Wallace Research Foundation
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0007075
OSTI ID:
1610932
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1503732
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 124, Issue 6; ISSN 2169-897X
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 49 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Six global biomass burning emission datasets: intercomparison and application in one global aerosol model journal January 2020
Nonlinear behavior of organic aerosol in biomass burning plumes: a microphysical model analysis journal January 2019
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Secondary organic aerosol formation from the laboratory oxidation of biomass burning emissions journal January 2019