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KINETIC STUDIES OF SIMULATED POLLUTED ATMOSPHERES
Citation:
Calvert, J. KINETIC STUDIES OF SIMULATED POLLUTED ATMOSPHERES. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/2-80/024.
Description:
The kinetics and reaction mechanisms of several important atmospheric contaminants - SO2, formaldehyde, nitrous acid, and the nitrosamines - were assessed to help quantify some key aspects of the chemistry of polluted atmospheres. The reactions and lifetimes of excited sulfur dioxide with various atmospheric components including hydroxyl, hydroperoxy, and methylperoxy radicals were studied. These data and other published rate data were reviewed and evaluated. The photolysis of formaldehyde was investigated as a major source of hydroperoxyl radicals, and a quantitative evaluation made of its apparent first order rate constants at various solar zenith angles. The absolute extinction coefficients for nitrous acid were determined, and estimates made of the rates of hydroxyl radical generation in the troposphere by photolysis of nitrous acid. Long path Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to help evaluate the potential for nitrosamine formation in the polluted atmosphere.