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Multi-day evolution of organic aerosol mass and composition from biomass burning emissions

dc.contributor.authorDearden, Abraham C., author
dc.contributor.authorJathar, Shantanu, advisor
dc.contributor.authorBond, Tami, committee member
dc.contributor.authorPierce, Jeffrey, committee member
dc.date.accessioned2023-06-01T17:27:21Z
dc.date.available2023-06-01T17:27:21Z
dc.date.issued2023
dc.description.abstractBiomass burning is an important source of primary and secondary organic aerosol (POA, SOA, and together, OA) to the atmosphere. The photochemical evolution of biomass burning OA, especially over long photochemical ages, is highly complex and there are large uncertainties in how this evolution is represented in models. Recently, we performed photooxidation experiments on biomass burning emissions using a small environmental chamber (~150 L) to study the OA evolution over multiple equivalent days of photochemical aging. In this work, we use a kinetic, process-level model (SOM-TOMAS; Statistical Oxidation Model-TwO Moment Aerosol Sectional) to simulate the photochemical evolution of OA in 18 chamber experiments performed on emissions from 10 different fuels. A base version of the model was able to simulate the time-dependent evolution of the OA mass concentration and its oxygen-to-carbon ratio (O:C) at short photochemical ages (0.5 to 1 equivalent days) but substantially underestimated the enhancement in both metrics at longer photochemical ages (>1 equivalent day). The OA after several days of equivalent photochemical aging was dominated by SOA (58%, on average) with the remainder being POA (42%, on average). Semi-volatile organic compounds, oxygenated aromatics, and heterocyclics accounted for the majority (86%, on average) of the SOA formed. Experimental artifacts (i.e., particle and vapor wall losses) were found to be much more important in influencing the OA evolution than other processes (i.e., dilution, heterogeneous chemistry, and oligomerization reactions). Adjustments to the kinetic model seemed to improve model performance only marginally indicating that the model was missing precursors, chemical pathways, or both, especially to explain the observed enhancement in OA mass and O:C over longer photochemical ages. While far from ideal, this work contributes to a process-level understanding of biomass burning OA that is relevant for its evolution at regional and global scales.
dc.format.mediumborn digital
dc.format.mediummasters theses
dc.identifierDearden_colostate_0053N_17707.pdf
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10217/236610
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherColorado State University. Libraries
dc.relation.ispartof2020-
dc.rightsCopyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright.
dc.subjectbiomass burning
dc.subjectmodel
dc.subjectsom-tomas
dc.subjectburning
dc.subjectbiomass
dc.subjectsecondary organic aerosol
dc.titleMulti-day evolution of organic aerosol mass and composition from biomass burning emissions
dc.typeText
dcterms.rights.dplaThis Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights (https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/). You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
thesis.degree.disciplineMechanical Engineering
thesis.degree.grantorColorado State University
thesis.degree.levelMasters
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Science (M.S.)

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