Photochemical ozone creation potentials for oxygenated volatile organic compounds: sensitivity to variations in kinetic and mechanistic parameters

Abstract

The sensitivity of Photochemical Ozone Creation Potentials (POCP) to a series of systematic variations in the rates and products of reactions of radical intermediates and oxygenated products is investigated for the C 4 alcohols, 1-butanol ( n-butanol) and 2-methyl-1-propanol ( i-butanol), using the recently developed Master Chemical Mechanism (MCM) as the base case. The POCP values are determined from the calculated formation of ozone in the boundary layer over a period of approximately five days along an idealised straight line trajectory, using a photochemical trajectory model and methodology described in detail previously. The results allow the relative impacts on calculated ozone formation of various classes of chemical reaction within the degradation chemistry to be assessed. The calculated POCP is found to be very insensitive to many of the changes investigated. However, it is found to be sensitive to variations in the rate coefficient for the initiating reaction with OH ( k OH ), although the sensitivity decreases with increasing k OH . The POCP appears to vary approximately linearly with k OH at low values (i.e. k OH less than ca. 4×10 -13 cm 3 molecule -1 s -1), whereas at high reactivities (i.e. k OH greater than ca. 4×10 -11 cm 3 molecule -1 s -1), the calculated POCP value is comparatively insensitive to the precise value of k OH . The POCP is also very sensitive to mechanistic changes which influence the yields of unreactive oxygenated products (i.e. those with OH reactivities below ca. 10 -12 cm 3 molecule -1 s -1), for example acetone. The propensity of the organic compound to produce organic nitrates (which act as comparatively unreactive reservoirs for free radicals and NO x ) also appears to have a notable influence on the calculated POCP. Recently reported information relevant to the degradation of oxygenated VOCs is then used to update the chemical schemes for the 17 alcohols and glycols, 10 ethers and glycol ethers, and 8 esters included in the MCM, and new schemes are incorporated for dimethoxy methane (CH 3OCH 2OCH 3) and dimethyl carbonate (CH 3OC(O)OCH 3), which are proposed fuel additives. New or updated POCP values are calculated for all 37 oxygenated VOCs and, where applicable, these are compared with the previous POCP values and reported Maximum Incremental Reactivity (MIR) values.