TY - JOUR
T1 - Characterization of a smog chamber for studying formation of gas-phase products and secondary organic aerosol
AU - Yuan, Qi
AU - Zhang, Zhuozhi
AU - Wang, Meng
AU - Ho, Kin Fai
AU - Wang, Tao
AU - Lee, Shuncheng
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was financially supported by the Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (No. T24-504/17-N ). The authors would like to acknowledge the HKPolyU University Research Facility in Chemical and Environmental Analysis (UCEA) for the equipment support. The authors are grateful to Dr. Yi Chen from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology for the inspiration and discussion on the characterization experiments.
Funding Information:
This research was financially supported by the Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (No. T24-504/17-N). The authors would like to acknowledge the HKPolyU University Research Facility in Chemical and Environmental Analysis (UCEA) for the equipment support. The authors are grateful to Dr. Yi Chen from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology for the inspiration and discussion on the characterization experiments.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023
PY - 2024/2
Y1 - 2024/2
N2 - Smog chambers provide a potent approach to explore the secondary organic aerosol formation under varied conditions. This study describes the construction and characterization of a new smog chamber facility for studying the formation mechanisms of gas-phase products and secondary organic aerosol from the photooxidation of volatile organic compounds. The chamber is a 5.4 m3 Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene (FEP) Teflon reactor with the potential to perform photooxidation experiments at controlled temperature and relative humidity. Detailed characterizations were conducted for evaluation of stability of environmental parameters, mixing time, background contamination, light intensity, and wall losses of gases and particles. The photolysis rate of NO2 (JNO2) ranged from (1.02−3.32) ×10−3 s−1, comparable to the average JNO2 in ambient environment. The wall loss rates for NO, NO2, and O3 were 0.47 × 10−4, 0.37 × 10−4, and 1.17 × 10−4 min−1, while wall loss of toluene was obsoletely found in a 6 hr test. The particle number wall loss rates are (0.01−2.46) ×10−3 min−1 for 40−350 nm with an average lifetime of more than one day. A series of toluene photooxidation experiments were carried out in absence of NOx under dry conditions. The results of the simulation experiments demonstrated that the chamber is well designed to simulate photolysis progress in the atmosphere.
AB - Smog chambers provide a potent approach to explore the secondary organic aerosol formation under varied conditions. This study describes the construction and characterization of a new smog chamber facility for studying the formation mechanisms of gas-phase products and secondary organic aerosol from the photooxidation of volatile organic compounds. The chamber is a 5.4 m3 Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene (FEP) Teflon reactor with the potential to perform photooxidation experiments at controlled temperature and relative humidity. Detailed characterizations were conducted for evaluation of stability of environmental parameters, mixing time, background contamination, light intensity, and wall losses of gases and particles. The photolysis rate of NO2 (JNO2) ranged from (1.02−3.32) ×10−3 s−1, comparable to the average JNO2 in ambient environment. The wall loss rates for NO, NO2, and O3 were 0.47 × 10−4, 0.37 × 10−4, and 1.17 × 10−4 min−1, while wall loss of toluene was obsoletely found in a 6 hr test. The particle number wall loss rates are (0.01−2.46) ×10−3 min−1 for 40−350 nm with an average lifetime of more than one day. A series of toluene photooxidation experiments were carried out in absence of NOx under dry conditions. The results of the simulation experiments demonstrated that the chamber is well designed to simulate photolysis progress in the atmosphere.
KW - Chamber characterization
KW - Chemical mechanism
KW - Gas-phase oxidation
KW - Smog chamber
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85149441350&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jes.2022.12.027
DO - 10.1016/j.jes.2022.12.027
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85149441350
SN - 1001-0742
VL - 136
SP - 570
EP - 582
JO - Journal of Environmental Sciences (China)
JF - Journal of Environmental Sciences (China)
ER -