Grantee Research Project Results

2023 Progress Report: Developing mechanisms for secondary organic aerosol from oxygenated volatile organic compounds in biomass burning and volatile chemical product emissions

EPA Grant Number: R840008
Title: Developing mechanisms for secondary organic aerosol from oxygenated volatile organic compounds in biomass burning and volatile chemical product emissions
Investigators: Jathar, Shantanu , Pierce, Jeffrey
Institution: Colorado State University
EPA Project Officer: Chung, Serena
Project Period: August 1, 2020 through April 24, 2025
Project Period Covered by this Report: August 1, 2022 through July 31,2023
Project Amount: $400,000
RFA: Chemical Mechanisms to Address New Challenges in Air Quality Modeling (2019) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Watersheds , Endocrine Disruptors , Environmental Engineering , Early Career Awards , Air Quality and Air Toxics , Air

Objective:

he goal of this research is to improve the representation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation from oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs) in biomass burning and volatile chemical product (VCP) sources in chemical mechanisms. We hypothesize that the inclusion of oxygenated VOCs, particularly phenols, furans, glycols, and glycol ethers, in chemical mechanisms will improve predictions of SOA formation and properties in air quality models (AQMs).

Progress Summary:

The project team was able to work on all three of the objectives in Year 3. We continued model development on the primary tool used in this work, i.e., the Statistical Oxidation Model-TwO Moment Aerosol Sectional (SOM-TOMAS) model to simulate heterogeneous oxidation and its impacts on atmospheric SOA mass yields. The SOM-TOMAS model was used to study the influence of VCP use on anthropogenic SOA production over the entire United States, relative to mobile sources. The model was also used to study the evolution of organic aerosol (OA) at long photochemical ages for laboratory experiments performed on biomass burning emissions. Finally, an atmospheric version of the model was used to estimate reduced-form parameters for oxygenated SOA precursors in biomass burning for use in a regional chemistry climate model.

Future Activities:

In Year 4 (no-cost extension year), we will study the ability of explicit chemical mechanisms to explain SOA and O₃ formation from oxygenated VOCs relevant for VCPs and biomass burning.

References:

O’Donnell, S., Akherati, A., He, Y., Hodshire, A. L., Shilling, J. E., Kuang, C., Fast, J. D., Mei, F., Schobesberger, S., Thornton, J. A., Smith, J. N., Jathar, S. H., and Pierce, J. R. (2023). Look up: Probing the vertical profile of new particle formation and growth in the planetary boundary layer with models and observations, Journal of Geophysical Research, 128(3), e2022JD037525.

Brewer, J.F., Jacob, D.J., Jathar, S. H., Akherati, A., He, Y., Zhai, S., Jo, D. S., Hodzic, A., Nault, B. A., Campuzano-Jost, P., Jimenez, J. L., Park, R.J., Oak, Y. J., and Liao, H. (2023). A scheme for representing aromatic secondary organic aerosols in chemical transport models: application to source attribution of organic aerosols over South Korea during the KORUS-AQ campaign, Journal of Geophysical Research, 128(8), e2022JD037257.

Journal Articles on this Report : 1 Displayed | Download in RIS Format

Publications Views
Other project views:	All 42 publications	7 publications in selected types	All 7 journal articles

Publications
Type	Citation	Project	Document Sources
Journal Article	Sasidharan S, He Y, Akherati A, Li Q, Li W, Cocker D, McDonald BC, Coggon MM, Seltzer KM, Pye HOT, Pierce JR, Jathar SH. Secondary organic aerosol formation from volatile chemical product emissions:Model parameters and contributions to anthropogenic aerosol. Environmental Science & Technology 2023;57:11891–902. doi:10.1021/acs.est.3c00683.	R840008 (2023)	Abstract from PubMed Full-text: ACS - Full Text HTML Exit Other: Exit

Supplemental Keywords:

volatile chemical products, wildfires, volatile organic compounds, secondary organic aerosol, heterogeneous chemistry, reduced-form models/parameters

Relevant Websites:

Progress and Final Reports:

Original Abstract

The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.