Effect of Temperature on Aerosol Formation Potential for a Terpene-Rich Air Freshener in the Presence of Ozone

Abstract

The temperature dependence of secondary organic aerosol (SOAs) formation resulting from reactions of ozone with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from a terpene-rich air freshener was investigated in a temperature-controlled chamber. To assess the contribution of the air freshener to SOAs related to indoor air pollution, a new concept of aerosol formation potential (AFP) is proposed to replace the traditional SOA yield (Y). The AFP is defined as aerosol mass formed per unit ozone reacted. The AFP of the air freshener is simple to use for ozone-initiated SOA formation, because only the amount of reacted ozone is used, instead of the reacted amount of a large number of VOCs. The AFP of the air freshener was higher at lower temperature. The AFP at 10℃ was 1.3, 2.3, and 3.4 times higher than those at 20, 31, and 36℃, respectively. The AFP is more dependent on temperature than on injected ozone concentration under the experimental conditions of this study. The AFP approach provides a simple tool that can be applied to examine SOAs formation potential from reactions of ozone with VOCs emitted from household consumer products.