Evolution of Atmospheric Total Organic Carbon from Petrochemical Mixtures
Kun Li, Jeremy J. B. Wentzell, Qifan Liu, Amy Leithead, Samar G. Moussa, Michael Wheeler, Chong Han, Patrick Lee, Shao‐Meng Li, John Liggio
Abstract
levels. In contrast to biogenic precursors (e.g., α-pinene), the photochemical time scale required for a largely complete oxidation and evolution of chemical parameters is very long for the petrochemical vapors (i.e., ∼7-10 days vs ∼1 day), likely due to the lower initial precursor reactivity. This suggests that petrochemical emissions and their impacts are likely to extend further spatially than biogenic emissions, and retain more of their complex composition and reactivity for many days. The results of this work provide key parameters to regional models for further improving the representation of the chemical evolution of petrochemical emissions.