Atmospheric oxidation of 1,3-butadiene: influence of seed aerosol acidity and relative humidity on SOA composition and the production of air toxic compounds

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of relative humidity (RH) on the chemical composition of gas and particle phases formed from the photooxidation of 1,3-butadiene (13BD) in the presence of NO _x under acidified and non-acidified seed aerosol. The experiments were conducted in a 14.5 m³ smog chamber operated in a steady-state mode. Products were identified by high-performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry. More than 50 oxygenated products were identified, including 33 oxygenated organics, 10 organosulfates (OSs), PAN, APAN, glyoxal, formaldehyde, and acrolein. Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) mass and reaction products formed depended on RH and on the acidity of the seed aerosol. Based on the Extended Aerosol Inorganics Model (E-AIM), the seed aerosol originated from the acidified and non-acidified solutions was found to exist under aqueous and solid phases, respectively. Although the terms "acidified" and "non-acidified" are true for the solutions from which the seeds were atomized, there are far more fundamental differences between the phase states in which species partition to or from (aqueous/solid), which considerably affects their partitioning and formation mechanisms. SOA mass and most SOA products (i) were higher under acidified seed conditions, where the aerosol particles were deliquescent, than under non-acidified seed conditions, where the aerosol particles did not contain any aqueous phase; (ii) increased with the acidity of the aerosol aqueous phase in the experiments under acidified seed conditions; and (iii) decreased with increasing RH. Glyceric acid, threitols, threonic acids, four dimers, three unknowns, and four organosulfates were among the main species measured under either acidified or non-acidified conditions across all RH levels. Total secondary organic carbon and carbon yield decreased with increasing RH under both acidified and non-acidified seed conditions. The photochemical reactivity of 13BD in our systems decreased with increasing RH and was faster under non-acidified than acidified seed conditions. To determine the contribution of 13BD products to ambient aerosol, we analyzed PM_2.5 samples collected at three European monitoring stations located in Poland. The occurrence of several 13BD SOA products (e.g., glyceric acid, tartronic acid, threonic acid, tartaric acid, and OSs) in the field samples suggests that 13BD could contribute to ambient aerosol formation.