ACP Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ACP 1680-7324 Copernicus GmbH Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/acp-9-2973-2009 High formation of secondary organic aerosol from the photo-oxidation of toluene Hildebrandt L. 1 Donahue N. M. 1 Pandis S. N. 1 2 Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA Institute of Chemical Engineering and High Temperature Chemical Processes (ICE-HT), Foundation of Research and Technology (FORTH), Patra, Greece 07 05 2009 9 9 2973 2986 This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/9/2973/2009/acp-9-2973-2009.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/9/2973/2009/acp-9-2973-2009.pdf

Toluene and other aromatics have long been viewed as the dominant anthropogenic secondary organic aerosol (SOA) precursors, but the SOA mass yields from toluene reported in previous studies vary widely. Experiments conducted in the Carnegie Mellon University environmental chamber to study SOA formation from the photo-oxidation of toluene show significantly larger SOA production than parameterizations employed in current air-quality models. Aerosol mass yields depend on experimental conditions: yields are higher under higher UV intensity, under low-NO<sub>x</sub> conditions and at lower temperatures. The extent of oxidation of the aerosol also varies with experimental conditions, consistent with ongoing, progressive photochemical aging of the toluene SOA. Measurements using a thermodenuder system suggest that the aerosol formed under high- and low-NO<sub>x</sub> conditions is semi-volatile. These results suggest that SOA formation from toluene depends strongly on ambient conditions. An approximate parameterization is proposed for use in air-quality models until a more thorough treatment accounting for the dynamic nature of this system becomes available.

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