Secondary organic aerosol from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Southeast Texas

Recent chamber studies show that low-volatility gas phase precursors such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can be a significant source of secondary organic aerosol (SOA). In this work, formation of SOA from the photo-oxidation products of PAHs is added to the SOA modeling framework of the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model to determine the regional distribution of SOA products from PAHs (PAH-SOA) and the contributions from sources in Southeast Texas during the Texas Air Quality Study 2006 (TexAQS 2006). Results show that PAHs released from anthropogenic sources can produce SOA mass as much as 10% of that from the traditional light aromatics or approximately 4% of total anthropogenic SOA. In areas under the influence of wildfire emissions, the amount of PAH-SOA can be as much as 50% of the SOA from light aromatics. A source-oriented modeling framework is adopted to determine the major sources of PAH-SOA by tracking the emitted PAHs and their oxidation products in the gas and aerosol phases from different sources separately. Among the eight sources (vehicles, solvent utilization, residential wood, industries, natural gas combustion, coal combustion, wildfire and other sources) that are tracked in the model, wildfire, vehicles, solvent and industries are the major sources of PAH-SOA. Coal and natural gas combustion appear to be less important in terms of their contributions to PAH-SOA.

► Regional SOA formation from gas phase PAHs is implemented in the CMAQ model. ► This is the first regional PAH-SOA simulation based on the most recent chamber data. ► PAH-SOA contributes to approximately 4% of overall anthropogenic SOA in urban area. ► Wildfire, vehicles, solvent utilization and industries are top PAH-SOA contributors.