Continuation of collaborative study aimed to develop a fundamental understanding of the interactions between secondary organic aerosol (SOA) particles and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in relation to the atmospheric transport of harmful substan
EMSL Project ID
50167
Abstract
The continuation of research previously conducted with Dr. Alla Zelenyuk involves real-time single particle characterization using unique tools available only at EMSL, and detailed analysis of samples collected at EMSL and analyzed at OSU for chemical speciation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) within aerosol particles, particle composition and toxicity. Data collected from our 2017 experiments has shown that PAHs are undergoing oxidation during formation of a-pinene secondary organic aerosol (SOA) particles, and become incorporated within SOA. To complete the evaluation of how the different detected oxidation products are affecting the physical characteristics of the particles, as well as assess how the chemistry of the PAHs within the particles is changing over time and what this means for the possible human health effects of exposure to atmospheric particles that might contain these compounds, more samples are needed. We plan to prepare additional samples containing SOA particles generated in the presence of PAHs. The produced particles will also be exposed to atmospheric levels of ozone, and hydroxy radical to attain information about compound reactivity within particles that is relevant to their aging in the atmosphere. Real-time in-situ characterization over a 24 hour period will assess the physical changes in the particles, filter collections of SOA, over the same period of time, will be analyzed for the exact chemical composition of PAH and PAH oxidation products at Oregon State University. Together, these two separate measurements of the same particles will help describe the environment within SOA particles and allow atmospheric modelers to incorporate findings into transport models. Preliminary data is awaiting these further experiments to complete the analysis for publication and PhD thesis.
Project Details
Project type
Limited Scope
Start Date
2018-03-26
End Date
2018-05-26
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Team Members