Issue 2, 2023

From the HOMEChem frying pan to the outdoor atmosphere: chemical composition, volatility distributions and fate of cooking aerosol

Abstract

Cooking organic aerosol (COA) is frequently observed in urban field studies. Like other forms of organic aerosol, cooking emissions partition between gas and particle phases; a quantitative understanding of the species volatility governing this partitioning is essential to model the transport and fate of COA. However, few cooking-specific volatility measurements are available, and COA is often assumed to be semi-volatile. We use measurements from a thermodenuder coupled to an aerosol chemical speciation monitor during the HOMEChem study to investigate the chemical components and volatility of near-source COA. We found that fresh emissions of COA have three chemical components: a biomass burning-like component (COABBOA), a lower volatility component associated with cooking oil (COAoil-2), and a higher volatility component associated with cooking oil (COAoil-1). We provide characteristic mass spectra and volatility profiles for these components. We develop a model to describe the partitioning of these emissions as they dilute through the house and outdoor atmosphere. We show that the total emissions from cooking can be misclassified in air quality studies that use semi-volatile emissions as a proxy for cooking aerosol, due to the presence of substantial mass in lower volatility bins of COA not generally represented in models. Primary emissions of COA can thus be not only primary sources of urban aerosol pollution, but also sources of semi-volatile organic compounds that undergo secondary chemistry in the atmosphere and contribute to ozone formation and secondary organic aerosol.

Graphical abstract: From the HOMEChem frying pan to the outdoor atmosphere: chemical composition, volatility distributions and fate of cooking aerosol

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
09 juin 2022
Accepted
06 déc. 2022
First published
07 déc. 2022
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts, 2023,25, 314-325

From the HOMEChem frying pan to the outdoor atmosphere: chemical composition, volatility distributions and fate of cooking aerosol

M. A. Pothier, E. Boedicker, J. R. Pierce, M. Vance and D. K. Farmer, Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts, 2023, 25, 314 DOI: 10.1039/D2EM00250G

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements