Influence of Aerosol Acidity on the Formation of Secondary Organic Aerosol from Biogenic Precursor Hydrocarbons

Abstract

Secondary organic carbon (SOC) concentrations in steady-state aerosol were measured in a series of alpha-pinene/NOx and one series of beta-caryophyllene/NOx irradiation experiments. The acidity of the inorganic seed aerosol was varied while the hydrocarbon and NOx concentrations were held constant in each series of experiments. Measurements were made for acidity levels and SOC concentrations much closer to ambient levels than had been previously achieved for alpha-pinene, while there are no previous measurements for SOC increases due to acidity for beta-caryophyllene. The observed enhancement in SOC concentration linearly increases with the measured hydrogen ion concentration in air for each system. For the conditions of these studies, SOC increased by 0.04% per nmol H+ m(-3) for alpha-pinene under two conditions where the organic carbon concentration differed by a factor of 5. For alpha-pinene, this level of response to acidic aerosol was a factor of 8 lower than was reported by Surratt et al. for similar series of experiments for SOC from the photooxidation of isoprene/NOx mixtures. By contrast, SOC from beta-caryophyllene showed an increase of 0.22% per nmol H+ m(-3), roughly two-thirds of the response in the isoprene system. Mass fractions for SOC particle-phase tracers for alpha-pinene decreased slightly with increasing aerosol acidity, although remaining within previously stated uncertainties. Below 200 nmol H+ m(-3), the mass fraction of beta-caryophyllenic acid, the only identified tracer for beta-caryophyllene SOC, was constant although beta-caryophyllenic acid showed a substantial decrease for acidities greater than 400 nmol H+ m(-3).