Functional Group Composition of Semivolatile Compounds Present in Submicron Organic Aerosol

Abstract:

Semivolatile organic compounds can partition between gas and particle phase in atmospheric conditions and can be volatilized and lost when the aerosol sampling is performed onto PTFE filters (Eatough et al., 1993). In this work, semivolatile compounds are collected onto carbon impregnated glass fiber-cellulose filters placed in series after an activated carbon denuder and PTFE filter which collects submicron aerosol particles of low volatility (Subramanian et al., 2004). The semivolatile compounds accumulated on the cellulose-glass fiber filters are desorbed by vacuum and injected into a stainless steel chamber that enables cold-trapping. The vapors in this chamber are condensed onto a low-temperature silicon window, and the composition of deposited vapors are analysed by transmission-mode Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy (Delval and Rossi, 2004). Functional group composition of semivolatile compounds that can be desorbed from the aerosol phase and its relationship with the apparent low-volatile fraction composition will be presented.

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