Secondary Organic Aerosol Production from Volatile Chemical Products

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Particulate matter is directly linked to important societal problems of public health and climate. This project will improve understanding of the ambient particulate matter burden, especially in urban areas. The effort will directly support two graduate students. In addition Master's students and undergraduate students will participate in the research, thus preparing them for successful careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields. This project supports an investigation into the ability of volatile chemical products (VCP), such as pesticides, coatings, printing inks, adhesives, cleaning agents, and personal care products, to contribute to the formation of small particles, or secondary organic aerosol (SOA), in the atmosphere of urban areas. A selected number of VCPs will be reacted in a laboratory smog chamber and the formation and chemical composition of SOA will be measured. The results will be used in chemical transport models to predict the formation of SOA in U.S. cities.The two science questions that will be addressed by the research are: (1) What are the mass yields and chemical composition of SOA formed from oxidation of VCPs, and how do the yields change with VCP molecular structure? and (2) What is the contribution of VCP SOA to the ambient SOA burden and the oxygenated organic aerosol factors determined from factor analysis of ambient aerosol mass spectrometer data? In addition to quantifying SOA yields and compositions from various VCPs, scientists will develop VCP SOA parameterizations ready for incorporating into chemical transport models using the volatility basis set. They also suggest to identify highly oxygenated multifunctional species formed from the VCP oxidation and VCP SOA tracer ions for use in identifying SOA in ambient databases.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.