Measurements of Reaction Coefficients of NO2 and HONO on Aerosol Particles

Abstract

The reaction coefficients of nitrogen dioxide and nitrous acid with monodisperse sodium chloride and ammonium sulphate aerosols have been measured in a flow reactor at atmospheric pressure. These experiments were performed at relative humidities above and below the deliquescence points of both aerosols (r.h. 50 and 85%) at 279 K. The results for NO2 afford a reaction coefficient in the range (2.8–10) × 10-4 and for HONO, (2.8–4.6) × 10-3. For both species, there appears to be an enhancement of the reaction coefficient on sodium chloride aerosol at 50% r.h. The results are compared with reaction coefficients determined by other experimental methods. A good agreement is found for both gases between this method and the coated denuder method previously developed in our research laboratories (Msibi et al., 1993) and with the majority of other published data for NO2. In the case of HONO, our estimate of reaction coefficient is smaller than, or at the lower limits of the ranges reported by other published studies.