A portable dual-smog-chamber system for atmospheric aerosol field studies

Kaltsonoudis, Christos; Jorga, Spiro D.; Louvaris, Evangelos; Florou, Kalliopi; Pandis, Spyros Ν.

doi:10.5194/amt-12-2733-2019

Cited by 19 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Particle losses in the transfer system were quantified by comparing size the distributions of ammonium sulfate aerosol transferred from the main to the dilution chamber (Figure S1). Volatile organic vapor losses for this pump have been characterized by Kaltsonoudis et al (2019) and were found to vary from a few percent to not detectable.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges in determining atmospheric organic aerosol volatility distributions using thermal evaporation techniques

Cain

Karnezi

Pandis

2020

Aerosol Science and Technology

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Volatility is one of the most important physical properties of organic aerosol (OA), as it determines the partitioning of its components between the vapor and particulate phases. Despite their atmospheric importance, multicomponent OA volatility estimates remain quite uncertain. This study combined thermodenuder (TD) and isothermal dilution measurements to characterize secondary OA (SOA) generated from the ozonolysis of a-pinene and cyclohexene. The SOA from both precursors evaporated similarly in the TD, but behaved quite differently when isothermally diluted by similar amounts. The a-pinene ozonolysis SOA evaporated by only 20% after 2 h of dilution by a factor of around 20, while 65% of the cyclohexene ozonolysis SOA evaporated at the same conditions. The volatility distributions were first estimated by fitting only the evaporation in the TD. This approach resulted in similar volatility distributions for the two systems. Then, the model was used to fit both the evaporation in the TD and the dilution chamber. This technique estimated drastically different volatility distributions with the a-pinene ozonolysis SOA consisting of mostly low-volatility compounds and the cyclohexene ozonolysis SOA consisting of mostly semi-volatile compounds. In the next stage of analysis, the model was updated to account for vapor-phase wall-losses occurring in the dilution chamber. This approach resulted in slightly less volatile SOA and provided some information about the losses of vapors to the walls, but the results were fairly uncertain. These results show the necessity of combining thermal measurements with other techniques to accurately estimate OA volatility.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges in determining atmospheric organic aerosol volatility distributions using thermal evaporation techniques

Cain

Karnezi

Pandis

2020

Aerosol Science and Technology

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“…Similar to the dual-chamber systems described by Tkacik et al (2017) and Kaltsonoudis et al (2019), two identical chambers (called A and B) were utilized to evaluate the influence of differing conditions on the behavior of captive particles. For the experiments described here, unperturbed ambient air was circulated behind each of the permeable membranes and the contrast in 145 conditions was achieved by covering Chamber B with a light shield that reduced daytime UV intensity to below 1% of that in Chamber A.…”

Section: Experimental Procedure: Instrumentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some chambers are designed to be operated indoors (Doussin et al, 1997;Cocker et al, 2001; 65 Saathoff et al, 2003;Carter et al, 2005;Paulsen et al, 2005;Presto et al, 2005;King et al, 2009;Wang et al, 2011;Hu et al, 2014;Wang et al, 2014); others are developed to be used outdoors (Jeffries et al, 1976;Becker, 1996;Klotz et al, 1998;Lee et al, 2004;Rohrer et al, 2005;Chung et al, 2008;Im et al, 2014;Ren et al, 2017). A few chamber systems have been designed to be portable (Shibuya et al, 1981;Hennigan et al, 2011;Bonn et al, 2013;Platt et al, 2013;Kaltsonoudis et al, 2019;Vu et al, 2019). Several comprehensive reviews of existing environmental chambers have been published (Becker, 2006;Lee et al, 2009;70 Seakins, 2010;Hidy, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Captive Aerosol Growth and Evolution (CAGE) chamber system to investigate particle growth due to secondary aerosol formation

Sirmollo¹,

Collins²,

McCormick³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Abstract. Environmental chambers are a commonly used tool for studying the production and processing of aerosols in the atmosphere. Most are located indoors and most are filled with air having prescribed concentrations of a small number of reactive gas species. Here we describe portable chambers that are used outdoors and filled with mostly ambient air. Each all-Teflon® 1-m3 Captive Aerosol Growth and Evolution (CAGE) chamber has a cylindrical shape that rotates along its horizontal axis. A gas-permeable membrane allows exchange of gas-phase species between the chamber and surrounding ambient air with a mixing time constant of approximately 0.5 h. The membrane non-permeable to particles, and those that are injected into or nucleate in the chamber are exposed to the ambient-mirroring environment until being sampled or lost to the walls. The chamber and surrounding enclosure are made of materials that are highly transmitting across the solar ultraviolet and visible wavelength spectrum. Steps taken in the design and operation of the chambers to maximize particle lifetime resulted in averages of 6.0 h, 8.2 h, and 3.9 h for ~0.06 µm, ~0.3 µm, and ~2.5 µm diameter particles, respectively. Two of the newly developed CAGE chamber systems were characterized using data acquired during a 2-month field study in 2016 in a forested area north of Houston, TX, U.S. Estimations of measured and unmeasured gas-phase species and of secondary aerosol production in the chambers were made using a zero-dimensional model that treats chemical reactions in the chamber and the continuous exchange of gases with the surrounding air. Concentrations of NO, NO2, NOy, O3, and several organic compounds measured in the chamber were found to be in close agreement with those calculated from the model, with all having near 1.0 best fit slopes and high r2 values. The growth rates of particles in the chambers were quantified by tracking the narrow modes that resulted from injection of monodisperse particles and from occasional new particle formation bursts. Size distributions in the two chambers were measured intermittently 24 h day−1. A bimodal diel particle growth rate pattern was observed, with maxima of about 6 nm h−1 in the late morning and early evening and minima of less than 1 nm h−1 shortly before sunrise and sunset. A pattern change was observed for hourly averaged growth rates between late summer and early fall.

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“…However, environmental chambers have also been constructed of stainless steel (De Haan et al, 1999;Glowacki et al, 2007;Duplissy et al, 2010;Wang et al, 2011;Massabò et al, 2018), aluminum (Saathoff et al, 2003), quartz (Barnes et al, 1994), and Pyrex glass (Doussin et al, 1997). Some chambers are designed to be operated indoors (Doussin et al, 1997;Cocker et al, 2001;Saathoff et al, 2003;Carter et al, 2005;Paulsen et al, 2005;Presto et al, 2005;King et al, 2009;Wang et al, 2011;Hu et al, 2014;Wang et al, 2014); others are developed to be used outdoors (Jeffries et al, 1976;Becker, 1996;Klotz et al, 1998;Lee et al, 2004;Rohrer et al, 2005;Chung et al, 2008;Im et al, 2014;Ren et al, 2017). A few chamber systems have been designed to be portable (Shibuya et al, 1981;Hennigan et al, 2011;Bonn et al, 2013;Platt et al, 2013;Kaltsonoudis et al, 2019;Vu et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Captive Aerosol Growth and Evolution (CAGE) chamber system to investigate particle growth due to secondary aerosol formation

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Environmental chambers are a commonly used tool for studying the production and processing of aerosols in the atmosphere. Most are located indoors and most are filled with air having prescribed concentrations of a small number of reactive gas species. Here we describe portable chambers that are used outdoors and filled with mostly ambient air. Each all-Teflon® 1 m3 Captive Aerosol Growth and Evolution (CAGE) chamber has a cylindrical shape that rotates along its horizontal axis. A gas-permeable membrane allows exchange of gas-phase species between the chamber and surrounding ambient air with an exchange time constant of approximately 0.5 h. The membrane is non-permeable to particles, and those that are injected into or nucleate in the chamber are exposed to the ambient-mirroring environment until being sampled or lost to the walls. The chamber and surrounding enclosure are made of materials that are highly transmitting across the solar ultraviolet and visible wavelength spectrum. Steps taken in the design and operation of the chambers to maximize particle lifetime resulted in averages of 6.0, 8.2, and 3.9 h for ∼ 0.06, ∼ 0.3, and ∼ 2.5 µm diameter particles, respectively. Two of the newly developed CAGE chamber systems were characterized using data acquired during a 2-month field study in 2016 in a forested area north of Houston, TX, USA. Estimations of measured and unmeasured gas-phase species and of secondary aerosol production in the chambers were made using a zero-dimensional model that treats chemical reactions in the chamber and the continuous exchange of gases with the surrounding air. Concentrations of NO, NO2, NOy, O3, and several organic compounds measured in the chamber were found to be in close agreement with those calculated from the model, with all having near 1.0 best fit slopes and high r2 values. The growth rates of particles in the chambers were quantified by tracking the narrow modes that resulted from injection of monodisperse particles and from occasional new particle formation bursts. Size distributions in the two chambers were measured intermittently 24 h d−1. A bimodal diel particle growth rate pattern was observed, with maxima of about 6 nm h−1 in the late morning and early evening and minima of less than 1 nm h−1 shortly before sunrise and sunset. A pattern change was observed for hourly averaged growth rates between late summer and early fall.

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A portable dual-smog-chamber system for atmospheric aerosol field studies

Cited by 19 publications

References 51 publications

Challenges in determining atmospheric organic aerosol volatility distributions using thermal evaporation techniques

Challenges in determining atmospheric organic aerosol volatility distributions using thermal evaporation techniques

Captive Aerosol Growth and Evolution (CAGE) chamber system to investigate particle growth due to secondary aerosol formation

Captive Aerosol Growth and Evolution (CAGE) chamber system to investigate particle growth due to secondary aerosol formation

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