Field observations and quantifications of atmospheric formaldehyde partitioning in gaseous and particulate phases

Rongjuan Xu; Xin Li; Huabin Dong; Daqi Lv; Najin Kim; Suding Yang; Wenjie Wang; Jinfeng Chen; Min Shao; Sihua Lu; Zhijun Wu; Shiyi Chen; Song Guo; Min Hu; Ying Liu; Limin Zeng; Yuanhang Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152122

Field observations and quantifications of atmospheric formaldehyde partitioning in gaseous and particulate phases

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Feb 20:808:152122. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152122. Epub 2021 Dec 3.

Authors

Rongjuan Xu¹, Xin Li², Huabin Dong³, Daqi Lv³, Najin Kim⁴, Suding Yang³, Wenjie Wang⁴, Jinfeng Chen⁵, Min Shao⁶, Sihua Lu³, Zhijun Wu⁷, Shiyi Chen³, Song Guo⁷, Min Hu⁷, Ying Liu³, Limin Zeng⁷, Yuanhang Zhang⁷

Affiliations

¹ State Joint Key Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; School of Ecological Environment and Urban Construction, Fujian University of Technology, Fuzhou 350118, Fujian, China.
² State Joint Key Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; International Joint Laboratory for Regional Pollution Control, Ministry of Education, Beijing 100816, China; Collaborative Innovation Centre of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 210044, China. Electronic address: li_xin@pku.edu.cn.
³ State Joint Key Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
⁴ Multiphase Chemistry Department, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz 55128, Germany.
⁵ School of Ecological Environment and Urban Construction, Fujian University of Technology, Fuzhou 350118, Fujian, China.
⁶ State Joint Key Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; Institute for Environmental and Climate Research, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511443, China.
⁷ State Joint Key Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; International Joint Laboratory for Regional Pollution Control, Ministry of Education, Beijing 100816, China; Collaborative Innovation Centre of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 210044, China.

PMID: 34871687
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152122

Abstract

Formaldehyde (HCHO) can possibly be taken by atmospheric particles due to its moderate solubility. Although previous model studies have proposed that uptake by particles was a large sink for HCHO, direct observation of HCHO partitioning and estimation of HCHO uptake coefficient (γ) for tropospheric conditions are still limited. In this work, online measurements of gaseous HCHO (HCHO_g) and particulate HCHO (HCHO_p) were carried out simultaneously at an urban site in Beijing in winter and spring. The results indicated that the average concentrations of HCHO_p ranged from 0.15 to 0.4 μg m^-3, accounting for 1.2% to 10% of the total HCHO (i.e., HCHO_g + HCHO_p). The median values of estimated γ based on the measured data were in the range of about 1.09 ∗ 10^-5-2.42 ∗ 10^-4, with lower values during PM_2.5 pollution episodes. Besides, the pH and liquid water content of aerosols that are mainly determined by ambient relative humidity (RH) and inorganic salt composition were identified as the main influencing factors of γ. We propose that the HCHO uptake process was mainly driven by hydrone and hydrogen ions in particles.

Keywords: HCHO; Influencing factors; Uptake.

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants* / analysis
Dust
Environmental Monitoring
Formaldehyde / analysis
Gases* / analysis
Particulate Matter / analysis

Substances

Air Pollutants
Dust
Gases
Particulate Matter
Formaldehyde