[Research Progress of SOA Formation from Anthropogenic VOCs Under Complex Pollution Condition]

Tian-Zeng Chen; Jun Liu; Qing-Xin Ma; Bi-Wu Chu; Peng Zhang; Yong-Chun Liu; Chang-Geng Liu; Hong He

doi:10.13227/j.hjkx.202203217

[Research Progress of SOA Formation from Anthropogenic VOCs Under Complex Pollution Condition]

Huan Jing Ke Xue. 2023 Mar 8;44(3):1201-1213. doi: 10.13227/j.hjkx.202203217.

[Article in Chinese]

Authors

Tian-Zeng Chen¹, Jun Liu^{1

2}, Qing-Xin Ma^{1

2

3}, Bi-Wu Chu^{1

2

3}, Peng Zhang^{1

2}, Yong-Chun Liu⁴, Chang-Geng Liu⁵, Hong He^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
² College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
³ Center for Excellence in Regional Atmospheric Environment, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China.
⁴ Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China.
⁵ School of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Panzhihua University, Panzhihua 617000, China.

PMID: 36922183
DOI: 10.13227/j.hjkx.202203217

Abstract

Although the air quality in China has been greatly improved in recent years, the air pollution remains severe. The annual mean PM_2.5 concentrations have not met the second grade of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards in China and are still much higher than the guideline value of the World Health Organization. Thus, the PM_2.5 concentration needs to be further reduced. Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) is an important component of PM_2.5 and has an important impact on air quality, global climate change, and human health. Therefore, understanding the formation mechanism of SOA is an important basis to control SOA and further reduce PM_2.5. As an important precursor of SOA, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can be oxidized by oxidants such as ·OH, NO₃[KG-*2/3]·, Cl·, and O₃ to generate low volatile organic compounds and further to form SOA through gas-particle partitioning, homogeneous nucleation, aqueous phase reaction, and heterogeneous reaction processes. The formation of SOA can be affected by many factors, such as the types and initial concentrations of VOCs, VOCs/NO_x ratios, relative humidity (RH), temperature (T), seed aerosols, oxidants, aqueous phase process, and photochemical process. The observed SOA concentration is always underestimated by air quality models because a comprehensive understanding of the complexity of SOA chemical composition and formation mechanisms is still lacking, especially that under the highly complex air pollution conditions in China. Therefore, the formation mechanism and influencing factors of SOA under highly complex air pollution conditions have become an important concern in the field of atmospheric sciences. Recently, much laboratory work has focused on the formation of SOA under complex conditions. The research progress of SOA formation from different anthropogenic VOCs are reviewed here, and the methods used and the impact of different influencing factors on SOA formation are introduced. Finally, the key scientific issues that exist in the research of the SOA mechanism at present are put forward, and the future research direction is projected.

Keywords: PM2.5; complex pollution; secondary organic aerosol (SOA); smog chamber; volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Publication types

English Abstract