Constraining the Volatility Distribution and Gas-Particle Partitioning of Combustion Aerosols Using Isothermal Dilution and Thermodenuder Measurements

The gas-particle partitioning of primary organic aerosol (POA) emissions from a diesel engine and the combustion of hard- and soft-woods in a stove was investigated by isothermally diluting them in a smog chamber or by passing them through a thermodenuder and measuring the extent of evaporation. The experiments were conducted at atmospherically relevant conditions: low concentrations and small temperature perturbations. The partitioning of the POA emissions from both sources varied continuously with changing concentration and temperature. Although the POA emissions are semivolatile, they do not completely evaporate at typical atmospheric conditions. The overall partitioning characteristics of diesel and wood smoke POA are similar, with wood smoke being somewhat less volatile than the diesel exhaust. The gas-particle partitioning of aerosols formed from flash-vaporized engine lubricating oil was also studied; diesel POA is somewhat more volatile than the oil aerosol. The experimental data from the dilution- and thermodenuder-based techniques were fit using absorptive partitioning theory to derive a volatility distribution of the POA emissions from each source. These distributions are suitable for use in chemical transport models that simulate POA concentrations.