Experiment to Characterize Aircraft Volatile Aerosol and Trace-Species Emissions (EXCAVATE)

The Experiment to Characterize Aircraft Volatile and Trace Species Emissions (EXCAVATE) was conducted at Langley Research Center (LaRC) in January 2002 and focused upon assaying the production of aerosols and aerosol precursors by a modern commercial aircraft, the Langley B757, during ground-based operation. Remaining uncertainty in the postcombustion fate of jet fuel sulfur contaminants, the need for data to test new theories of particle formation and growth within engine exhaust plumes, and the need for observations to develop air quality models for predicting pollution levels in airport terminal areas were the primary factors motivating the experiment. NASA's Atmospheric Effects of Aviation Project (AEAP) and the Ultra Effect Engine Technology (UEET) Program sponsored the experiment which had the specific objectives of determining ion densities; the fraction of fuel S converted from S(IV) to S(VI); the concentration and speciation of volatile aerosols and black carbon; and gas-phase concentrations of long-chain hydrocarbon and PAH species, all as functions of engine power, fuel composition, and plume age

A new aerosol collector for quasi on-line analysis of particulate organic matter: the Aerosol Collection Module (ACM) and first applications with GC/MS-FID

In many environments organic matter significantly contributes to the composition of atmospheric aerosol particles influencing its properties. Detailed chemical characterization of ambient aerosols is critical in order to understand the formation process, composition, and properties of aerosols and facilitates source identification and relative contributions from different types of sources to ambient aerosols in the atmosphere. However, current analytical methods are far from full speciation of organic aerosols and often require sampling times of up to one week. Offline methods are also subjected to artifacts during aerosol collection and storage.In the present work a new technique for quasi on-line compound specific measurements of organic aerosol particles was developed. The Aerosol Collection Module (ACM) focuses particles into a beam which is directed to a cooled sampling surface. The sampling takes place in a high vacuum environment where the gas phase from the sample volume is removed. After collection is completed volatile and semi-volatile compounds are evaporated from the collection surface through heating and transferred to a detector.For laboratory characterization the ACM was interfaced with a Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer, Flame Ionization Detector system (GC/MS-FID), abbreviated as ACM GC-MS. The particle collection efficiency, gas phase transfer efficiency, and linearity of the ACM GC-MS were determined using laboratory generated octadecane aerosols.The ACM GC-MS is linear over the investigated mass range of 10 to 100 ng and a recovery rate of 100% was found for octadecane particles. The ACM GC-MS was applied to investigate secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formed from beta-pinene oxidation. Nopinone, myrtanal, myrtenol, 1-hydroxynopinone, 3-oxonopinone, 3,7-dihydroxynopinone, and bicyclo[ 3,1,1]hept-3-ene-2-one were found as products in the SOA. The ACM GC-MS results are compared to quartz filter samples taken in parallel to the ACM GC-MS measurements. First measurements of ambient atmospheric aerosols are presented

Hygroscopicity of particles at two rural, urban influenced sites during Pacific 2001: Comparison with estimates of water uptake from particle composition

Hygroscopicity of particles was measured at Langley (rural) and Eagle Ridge (semi-rural) as part of the Pacific 2001 field campaign. The measured growth factors at the two sites were comparable. However, differences in particle composition as measured by an Aerosol Mass Spectrometer were evident at these two sites. Sulphate mass concentration was found to be similar at the two sites, while higher nitrate and organic mass were observed at Eagle Ridge. Higher growth factors were observed when the air mass was impacted by SO2 sources, while lower growth factors were observed when the air mass was affected by urban emissions. To examine the hygroscopic role of the different particle components, expected growth factors were calculated from the composition data and compared to measured growth factors. Calculations were done using the Zdanovskii, Stokes and Robinson (ZSR) mixing rule. Sulphate fraction played a dominant role in particle hygroscopicity at both sites. Calculated growth factors were within the uncertainty of the measurements, except when the nitrate fraction was high. The results imply that particulate nitrate takes up much less water than ammonium nitrate, indicating that the ZSR mixing rule fails for nitrate. Small variations of organic growth factors with source regions suggest that secondary organic matter is more hygroscopic than primary organic matter

A new aerosol collector for on-line analysis of particulate organic matter: the Aerosol Collection Module (ACM)

In many environments organic matter significantly contributes to the composition of atmospheric aerosol particles influencing its properties. Detailed chemical characterization of ambient aerosols is critical in order to understand the formation process, composition, and properties of aerosols and facilitates source identification and relative contributions from different types of sources to ambient aerosols in the atmosphere. However, current analytical methods are far from full speciation of organic aerosols and often require sampling times of up to one week. Offline methods are also subjected to artifacts during aerosol collection and storage. In the present work a new technique for quasi on-line compound specific measurements of organic aerosol particles was developed. The Aerosol Collection Module (ACM) focuses particles into a beam which is directed to a cooled sampling surface. The sampling takes place in a high vacuum environment where the gas phase from the sample volume is removed. After collection is completed volatile and semi-volatile compounds are evaporated from the collection surface through heating and transferred to a detector. For laboratory characterization the ACM was interfaced with a Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer, Flame Ionization Detector system (GC/MS-FID), abbreviated as ACM GC-MS. The particle collection efficiency, gas phase transfer efficiency, and linearity of the ACM GC-MS were determined using laboratory generated octadecane aerosols. The ACM GC-MS is linear over the investigated mass range of 10 to 100 ng and a recovery rate of 100% was found for octadecane particles. The ACM GC-MS was applied to investigate secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formed from β-pinene oxidation. Nopinone, myrtanal, myrtenol, 1-hydroxynopinone, 3-oxonopinone, 3,7-dihydroxynopinone, and bicyclo[3,1,1]hept-3-ene-2-one were found as products in the SOA. The ACM GC-MS results are compared to quartz filter samples taken in parallel to the ACM GC-MS measurements. First measurements of ambient atmospheric aerosols are presented.United States. Environmental Protection Agency (grant number RD-83107701-0)United States. Dept. of Energy (grant number DE-FG02-05ER84269