Investigating the Molecular Composition of Rainwater and Secondary Organic Aerosol Using Ultra-high Resolution Mass Spectrometry PDF Download

Author: Anna Victoria Fee
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ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Author: Katye Elisabeth Altieri
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ISBN:
Category : Atmospheric aerosols
Languages : en
Pages : 163

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Atmospheric aerosols scatter and absorb light influencing the global radiation budget and climate, and are associated with adverse effects on human health. Precipitation is an important removal mechanism for atmospheric dissolved organic matter (DOM), and a potentially important input for receiving ecosystems. However, the sources, formation, and composition of atmospheric DOM in aerosols and precipitation are not well understood. This dissertation investigates the composition and formation mechanisms of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formed through cloud processing reactions, elucidates the composition and sources of DOM in rainwater, and provides links connecting the two. Photochemical batch aqueous-phase reactions of organics with both biogenic and anthropogenic sources (i.e., methylglyoxal, pyruvic acid) and OH radical were performed to simulate cloud processing. The composition of products formed through cloud processing experiments and rainwater collected in New Jersey, USA was investigated using a combination of electrospray ionization mass spectrometry techniques, including ultra-high resolution Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. This dissertation has resulted in the first evidence that oligomers form through cloud processing reactions, the first detailed chemical mechanism of aqueous phase oligomerization, the first identification of oligomers, organosulfates, and nitrooxy organosulfates in precipitation, and the first molecular level chemical characterization of organic nitrogen in precipitation. The formation of oligomers in SOA helps to explain the presence of large multifunctional compounds and humic like substances (HULIS) that dominate particulate organic mass. Oligomers have low vapor pressures and remain in the particle phase after cloud evaporation, enhancing SOA. The chemical properties of the oligomers suggest that they are less hygroscopic than the monomeric reaction products (i.e., organic acids). Their elemental ratios are consistent with the hypothesis that oligomers are a large contributor to aged organic aerosol mass. The majority of the compounds identified in rainwater samples by advanced mass spectrometry appear to be products of atmospheric reactions, including known contributors to SOA formed from gas phase, aerosol phase, and in-cloud reactions in the atmosphere. The similarities between the complex organic matter in rainwater and SOA suggest that the large uncharacterized component of SOA is the main contributor to the large uncharacterized component of rainwater DOM.

Author: Rachel Elizabeth Sellon
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Atmospheric aerosols can affect visibility and the Earth's climate by scattering and absorbing light and they also can have adverse effects on human health. The organic portion of atmospheric aerosols is very complex and is a major fraction of fine particulate matter. High molecular weight (high-MW)/oligomeric organic compounds can make up a large part of this organic fraction and the composition, sources, and formation mechanisms for these compounds are not well understood. This knowledge and understanding is necessary to decrease the uncertainty in the climate affects of aerosols and to improve climate models. This dissertation investigates the composition and formation mechanisms for the high-MW/oligomeric fraction of secondary organic aerosols (SOA) collected in Bakersfield, CA and presents a comparative analysis of chamber and ambient SOA, from both Los Angeles (LA) and Bakersfield, to investigate sources at both locations. A novel sampling technique, nanospray-Desorption Electrospray Ionization (nano-DESI), was used with high resolution mass spectrometry (HR-MS) to determine the molecular formulas of the high molecular weight (HMW)/oligomeric fraction of SOA. Nano-DESI involves direct desorption from the sample surface and was used to limit reactions that can take place with extraction and storage in solvent. The samples were collected in Bakersfield and LA during CalNex 2010. Both Bakersfield and LA are out of compliance with EPA standards of ozone and particulate matter and provide opportunities to examine air masses affected by both anthropogenic and biogenic sources. This dissertation has provided the first evidence of observable changes in the composition of high-MW/oligomeric compounds throughout the day. Using positive mode nano-DESI, afternoon increases in the number of compounds that contain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen (CHO) were observed consistent with photochemistry/ozonolysis as a major source for these compounds. Compounds containing reduced nitrogen groups were dominant at night and had precursors consistent with imine formation products from the reaction of carbonyls and ammonia. In the negative mode, organonitrates (CHON) and nitroxy organosulfates (CHONS) had larger numbers of compounds in the night/morning samples consistent with nitrate radical formation reactions. A subset of the CHONS compounds and compounds containing sulfur (CHOS) had the same composition as known biogenic organosulfates and nitroxy organosulfates indicating contributions from both biogenic and anthropogenic sources to the SOA. This dissertation also provides the first analysis of the high-MW/oligomeric fraction in size resolved samples; the majority of the compounds were found in aerosol diameters between 0.18-1.0 micrometers and the CHON were bimodal with size. Finally, this dissertation presents the first comparative analysis of the overlap in the composition of this fraction of SOA between ambient and chamber samples. Samples collected in Pasadena, LA and Bakersfield were compared with samples collected in a smog chamber using diesel and isoprene sources. The results indicate that diesel had the highest overlap at both sites, Bakersfield samples were more oxidized, and LA showed evidence of a SOA plume arriving from downtown LA. The addition of ammonia to the diesel chamber experiment was necessary to form many of the 2N compounds found in Bakersfield. These results increase our understanding of the types of compounds found in urban environments and give evidence for the timescales of formation reactions in an ambient environment. They show that the majority of the high-MW oligomeric compounds are found in submicron size particles and that the composition of this fraction of SOA varies with aerosol size. Results from the chamber comparisons show that both diesel and isoprene are important sources for these compounds and also that there other sources are present. Future work that combines this type of analysis, in other ambient environments, with studies of the optical properties of aerosols could be used to help improve climate models and to start to close the gap in our understanding of the climate effects of atmospheric aerosols.

Author: Yunzhu Zhao
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Atmospheric chemistry
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Atmospheric aerosol affects the Earth's energy budget, reduces visibility and influences human health. The organic composition of aerosol is quite complex and continuously evolves through various atmospheric processes. To gain a deeper understanding of the molecular composition of atmospheric organic matter (AOM), chamber-generated biogenic secondary organic aerosol (SOA), ambient aerosol and cloud water samples were studied. Ultrahigh resolution Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry was used to provide detailed molecular characterization of the atmospheric samples. Due to the extremely high mass resolution and mass accuracy, thousands of individual molecular formulas were identified in all of the samples studied. Multivariate statistical analysis methods were evaluated to compare the similarities and differences of the sample compositions. The biogenic SOA from three individual monoterpene precursors and a sesquiterpene precursor have clusters of peaks in their mass spectra, indicating that high molecular weight oligomers are a major component of the SOA. The monoterpene SOA have similar molecular compositions, which are different from the sesquiterpene SOA composition. The indicator species of SOA were identified using multivariate statistical analysis. Daily 24-hour water-soluble organic carbon samples from ambient aerosol collected at the Storm Peak Laboratory (SPL) show similar bulk chemical properties regarding their average elemental ratios and double bond equivalents. Using multivariate statistical analysis, the site meteorological conditions were found to affect the aerosol molecular composition. Days with strong UV radiation and high temperature were found to contain large numbers of biogenic SOA molecular formulas. Days with high relative humidity and high sulfate ion concentrations were found to contain many sulfur-containing compounds, suggesting their aqueous phase formation. The collection of cloud samples at the SPL provided an opportunity to study aqueous processing of AOM. The cloud composition was affected by biomass burning and SOA. Comparisons of the sample compositions indicate biogenic SOA components are commonly observed in ambient aerosol and cloud samples collected at the SPL. Thus, the ambient samples were used to confirm the biogenic SOA indicator species identified in chamber-generated SOA. This study of the three types of atmospheric samples helps to understand the composition of AOM with respect to atmospheric processes.

Author: Sandra Louise Blair
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781339820262
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Aerosols can substantially impact human health, atmospheric chemistry, and climate. The composition and photochemistry of a variety of anthropogenic and biogenic primary and secondary organic aerosols (POA and SOA) have yet to be fully characterized. The composition of organic aerosols is extremely complex - they contain a variety of highly oxidized, multifunctional, low vapor pressure organic compounds. The primary focus of this thesis is on the molecular characterization of organic aerosols that are not well understood or have not been studied before, such as primary emissions from electronic cigarettes, iron (III) mediated SOA, and photooxidized biodiesel and diesel fuel SOA. Another focus of this dissertation is the effect of direct photochemical aging on the composition of organic aerosol. Direct photolysis experiments were first applied to a system that is known to have a photolabile composition, alpha-pinene ozonolysis SOA, such that characterization of a photochemical effect would be possible to quantify. Photolysis of more complex SOA that have not been studied before, photooxidized biodiesel and diesel fuel SOA, were also investigated in this thesis. Advanced high resolution mass spectrometry techniques were used in the molecular characterization of organic aerosols, including nano-Desorption Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry (nano-DESI) and Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry (FTICR). An additional suite of online instrumentation was used to measure gas-phase composition, particle-phase composition, particle size and concentration, and absorption properties: Proton Transfer Reaction Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS), Aerosol Mass Spectrometry (ToF-AMS), Scanning Mobility Particle Sizing (SMPS), and UV-vis spectroscopy. The molecular analysis of these aerosols provides valuable insight to the formation and photochemical behavior of unexpected, polymeric, light absorbing, and unique organosulfur species.

Author: Felipe Daniel Lopez-Hilfiker
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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The guiding question to this research is: To what extent and by what mechanisms do biogenic volatile organic compounds contribute to atmospheric aerosol mass? To address this question we need to understand the chemistry that produces condensable vapors which when in the presence of particles may partition onto the aerosol surface depending on their chemical and physical properties. I developed an insitu gas and aerosol sampling system, the FIGAERO (Filter Inlet for Gases and AEROsol) to speciate gas and particle phase organics derived from photochemical reactions with biogenic volatile organic compounds under both field and laboratory conditions. By coupling the FIGAERO to a High-Resolution Time-of-Flight Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometer (HR-TOF-CIMS) I am able to elucidate chemical pathways by identifying elemental compositions and in some cases functional groups present in the detected molecular ions. The coupling of the FIGAERO to the HR-TOF-CIMS also allows the estimation of effective vapor pressures of the aerosol components and this information can be used to improve vapor pressure models and test associated partitioning theories and parameterizations. The approach also provides hundreds of speciated chemical tracers that can be correlated with traditional environmental and chemical measurements (e.g AMS, NOx, SO2, SMPS, VOC) to help derive sources and sinks and to constrain the mechanisms responsible for the formation and growth of organic aerosol. Measurements obtained across a wide range of conditions and locations allowing connections and contrasts between different chemical systems, providing insights into generally controlling factors of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) and its properties.

Author: Katherine J. Heaton
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781124086231
Category : Atmospheric aerosols
Languages : en
Pages :

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Secondary Organic Aerosol (SOA) forms in the atmosphere from the oxidation of biogenic emissions. Even though SOA has been linked to health and climate effects, the chemical mechanism of SOA formation is not well understood. Through the use of mass spectrometry, this work characterizes SOA during the early stages of growth from the reaction of ozone with monoterpenes, a major biogenic emission. In this thesis, three types of studies are described for analyzing SOA formation: (1) the molecular composition of SOA is studied using the photoionization aerosol mass spectrometer, (2) the atomic composition is studied with the nanometer aerosol mass spectrometer and (3) high resolution mass spectrometry is used to help reconcile atomic and molecular composition data. The monoterpene ozonolysis reactions were performed in a flow tube reactor, where the reaction period could vary from 3s to 22s. The Photoionization Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (PIAMS) detected the formation of oligomers within seconds of the onset of the reaction. Ions that were detected were mapped to dimers that could form via the stabilized Criegee intermediate channel or the hydroperoxy channel. The Nanometer Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (NAMS) analyzed the elemental composition of the SOA which showed the formation of highly polar compounds during the early stages of SOA growth. NAMS also analyzed the changes in the composition of SOA when it formed in the presence of atmospheric species (water vapor, nitric acid vapor and sodium chloride seed particles). The data collected indicated that there is not as much change for endocyclic compounds as there is for exocyclic compounds. Finally, a new off-line analysis technique was created to micro-extract SOA deposited on a plate from the flow tube reactor. The samples were analyzed with the Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometer (FTICR-MS). The FTICR-MS was used to collect molecular and elemental data simultaneously. The FTICR-MS produced accurate mass data that could be used to calculate molecular formulas. This provided a direct comparison of the data acquired with PIAMS and NAMS.

Author:
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Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Abstract : Ambient atmospheric aerosol is ubiquitous in the atmosphere, originating from a variety of natural and man-made sources. These microscopic particles have profound impacts on the global climate system as well as human health. The organic fraction of atmospheric aerosol is an extremely complex mixture which is not yet fully characterized. These unknown organic aerosol species contribute to the uncertainty in the effect of aerosol on climate and uncertainty in overall ambient aerosol toxicity. Light absorbing organic aerosol can interact with incoming solar radiation and contribute to atmospheric heating; however, the source apportionment and overall fate of these absorbing organic aerosol species are not fully understood. The burning of woody and vegetative materials (biomass) is expected to be one source, while secondary chemical reactions in aqueous phase aerosol and liquid water droplets are another. In this work, we have analyzed ambient samples from the Po Valley (Italy) and Pacific Northwest (USA) influenced by biomass burning. Using ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry and subsequent molecular formula assignment, we observe an extreme level of molecular complexity in atmospheric aerosol. We make several key observations regarding both biomass burning organic aerosol and aqueous phase processing based on the molecular details and the observed elemental trends in the assigned formulas. We estimate oxidation levels, heteroatom functionalization, aromatic character, volatility and glass transition temperature based on reliable molecular formula assignments. Overall, this work describes a level of complexity in organic aerosol much greater than previously indicated. We suspect that any one analytical technique is likely to miss certain aspects of this mixture, and that a variety of analytical methods must be employed to fully characterize and resolve the complex mixture in atmospheric organic aerosol.

Author: Katherine Ann Schilling
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Trace volatile organic compounds emitted by biogenic and anthropogenic sources into the atmosphere can undergo extensive photooxidation to form species with lower volatility. By equilibrium partitioning or reactive uptake, these compounds can nucleate into new aerosol particles or deposit onto already-existing particles to form secondary organic aerosol (SOA). SOA and other atmospheric particulate matter have measurable effects on global climate and public health, making understanding SOA formation a needed field of scientific inquiry. SOA formation can be done in a laboratory setting, using an environmental chamber; under these controlled conditions it is possible to generate SOA from a single parent compound and study the chemical composition of the gas and particle phases. By studying the SOA composition, it is possible to gain understanding of the chemical reactions that occur in the gas phase and particle phase, and identify potential heterogeneous processes that occur at the surface of SOA particles. In this thesis, mass spectrometric methods are used to identify qualitatively and qualitatively the chemical components of SOA derived from the photooxidation of important anthropogenic volatile organic compounds that are associated with gasoline and diesel fuels and industrial activity (C12 alkanes, toluene, and o-, m-, and p-cresols). The conditions under which SOA was generated in each system were varied to explore the effect of NOx and inorganic seed composition on SOA chemical composition. The structure of the parent alkane was varied to investigate the effect on the functionalization and fragmentation of the resulting oxidation products. Relative humidity was varied in the alkane system as well to measure the effect of increased particle-phase water on condensed-phase reactions. In all systems, oligomeric species, resulting potentially from particle-phase and heterogeneous processes, were identified. Imines produced by reactions between (NH4)2SO4 seed and carbonyl compounds were identified in all systems. Multigenerational photochemistry producing low- and extremely low-volatility organic compounds (LVOC and ELVOC) was reflected strongly in the particle-phase composition as well.

Author: Yun Zhang
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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