Effects of aging on organic aerosol from open biomass burning smoke in aircraft and laboratory studies (original) (raw)
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Aerosol Science and Technology, 2018
Biomass burning (BB) emissions and their atmospheric oxidation products can contribute significantly to direct aerosol radiative forcing of climate. Limited knowledge of BB organic aerosol chemical and optical properties leads to large uncertainties in climate models. In this paper, we describe the experimental setup and the main findings of a laboratory BB study aimed at comprehensive optical, physical, and chemical characterization of fresh and aged BB emissions. An oxidation flow reactor (OFR) was used to mimic atmospheric oxidation processes. The OFR was characterized in terms of OH⋅ production rate, particle transmission efficiency, and characteristic lifetimes of condensible compounds. Emission factors of main air pollutants [particulate matter (PM), organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), carbon monoxide (CO), and nitrogen oxides (NO x)] were determined for five globally and regionally important biomass fuels: Siberian (Russia), Florida (USA), and Malaysian peats; mixed conifer and aspen fuel from Fishlake National Forest, UT, USA; and mixed grass and brush fuel representative of the Great Basin, NV, USA. Measured fuel-based emission factors (EFs) for OC ranged from 0.85 ± 0.24 mg g-1 to 6.56 ± 1.40 mg g-1. Measured EFs for EC ranged from 0.02 ± 0.01 mg g-1 to 0.16 ± 0.01 mg g-1. The ratio of organic mass to total carbon mass for fresh emissions from these fuels ranged from 1.04 ± 0.04 to 1.34 ± 0.24. The effect of OFR A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t aging on aerosol optical properties, size distribution, and concentration is also discussed.
Domestic biomass burning is a significant source of organic aerosol (OA) to the atmosphere however the understanding of OA composition under different burning conditions and after oxidation is largely unknown. Compositional analysis of OA is often limited by the lack of analytical standards available for quantification, however, semi-quantitative non-target analysis (NTA) can overcome these limitations by enabling the detection of thousands of compounds and quantification via surrogate standards. A series of controlled burn experiments were conducted at the Manchester Aerosol Chamber to investigate domestic biomass burning OA (BBOA) under different burning conditions and the impact of atmospheric aging. Insights into the chemical composition of fresh and aged OA from flaming dominated and smouldering dominated combustion were obtained via a newly developed semi-quantitative NTA approach using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry. Aerosol from smouldering dominated burns contained significant organic carbon content whereas under flaming dominated conditions was primarily black carbon. The detectable OA mass from both conditions was dominated by oxygenated compounds (CHO) (≈ 90 %) with smaller contributions from organonitrogen species. Primary OA (POA) had a high concentration of C 8-C 17 CHO compounds with both burns exhibiting a peak between C 8-C 11. However, flaming dominated POA exhibited a greater contribution of C 13-C 17 CHO species. More than 50 % of the CHO mass in POA was determined as aromatic by the aromaticity index, largely in the form of functionalised monoaromatic compounds. After aging the aromatic contribution to the total CHO mass decreased with a greater loss for smouldering (-53%) than flaming (-16 %) due to the increased reduction of polyaromatic compounds under smouldering conditions. The O:C ratios of the aged OA from flaming and smouldering were consistent with those from the oxidation of aromatic compounds (0.57-1.00), suggesting that compositional changes upon aging were driven by the oxidation of aromatic compounds and the loss of aromaticity. However, there was a greater probability of O:C ratios ≥ 0.8 in aged smouldering OA indicating the presence of more oxidised species. This study presents the first detailed compositional analysis of domestic BBOA using a semi-quantitative NTA methodology and 1