Secondary Organic Aerosol Formation from the OH Oxidation of Phenol, Catechol, Styrene, Furfural, and Methyl Furfural

Abstract

Wildfires are increasing in frequency and intensity, with increasing impacts on air quality and climate. A main component of smoke is biomass-burning organic aerosol, BBOA, including both primary OA (POA) and secondary OA (SOA). Here, we provide wildfire-relevant SOA yields for the reactions of 5 BB volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that have been predicted to lead to substantial SOA formation (phenol, catechol, styrene, furfural, and methyl furfural). Reactions were conducted in a large Teflon chamber with OH under high-NO conditions. We focus specifically on providing SOA yields and volatility basis sets (VBSs) that can be applied to ambient data, including at high OA concentrations in large plumes. We introduce a new method for obtaining VBSs while accounting for Teflon environmental chamber wall effects and for changes in temperature during experiments. Vapor wall loss corrections increase SOA by ∼30% across different systems. The SOA from this work is estimated to evaporate faster upon dilution than POA. We also analyze mass spectra from particle-phase measurements, which confirm the presence of SOA species identified by other researchers, and report nitrocatechol mass yields for phenol (38%) and styrene (0.45%).