The effect of chemical reactivity on source reconciliation modeling of nonmethane hydrocarbons

Technical Report · Fri Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1994

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/10141715· OSTI ID:10141715

Doskey, P V; Gaffney, J S

Source fingerprints for 18 nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHCS) containing 2-8 carbon atoms are currently used to apportion NMHC sources by chemical mass balance (CMB) modeling approaches. The source profiles must be stable in the troposphere to obtain accurate CMB model predictions. The NMHC source apportionment compounds are susceptible to gas phase oxidation in the atmosphere by hydroxyl radical (OH). Expected tropospheric lifetimes for peak concentrations of OH in typical urban air range from an hour to over 100 hours. When OH oxidation of a source profile for vehicle tailpipe emissions is simulated, significant changes occur in the distribution of the source apportionment compounds after a reaction time of 2-4 hr. These calculations indicate that sampling strategies to define source-receptor relationships of NMHCs by CMB modeling techniques must be carefully designed to minimize the possibility of NMHC oxidation by OH.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States); Illinois Dept. of Energy and Natural Resources, Springfield, IL (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 10141715
• Report Number(s): ANL/ER/PP--74010; ON: DE94009812
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
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99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
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AIR POLLUTION
ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY
CARBON SOURCES
CHEMICAL AND PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES
CHEMICAL PHYSICS
CHEMICAL REACTION KINETICS
CHEMICALS MONITORING AND TRANSPORT
HYDROCARBONS
HYDROXYL RADICALS
MASS BALANCE
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTERS
OXIDATION
PATTERN RECOGNITION
TROPOSPHERE