Sensitivity Analysis of Ozone Formation Using Response Surface Methodology

Abstract

Identifying the nonlinear relationship between O3 and its precursors accurately plays an important role for the policy-making of O3 pollution control. In this study, the response surface methodology based on the box model simulation was used to quickly and efficiently quantify the O3 response to their precursors with the optimal experimental design. The results showed that CO had a positive contribution to ozone generation, whereas NOx and VOCs had a significant nonlinear relationship with O3. When the ratio of φ(VOCs) to[φ(NOx)-13.75] was greater than 4.17, the ozone formation regime was NOx-limited and became VOCs-limited when the ratio was less than 4.17. Olefin was the key VOCs' component to affect the formation of O3; when the radio of φ(olefin) to[φ(NOx)-15] was less than 1.10 and the value of the φ(olefin) was less than 35×10-9, olefin went far towards generating O3. Response surface methodology demonstrated that it can be well used to explore the influence of multiple factors and their interactions on O3 formation and provides a new approach for efficient O3 sensitivity analysis.