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Updated: Aug 6, 2026

Production and Measurement of Organic Particulate Matter in the Harvard Environmental Chamber
Published on: November 18, 2018
Modeling secondary organic aerosol formation via multiphase partitioning with molecular data
Betty K Pun1, Christian Seigneur, Kristen Lohman
1Atmospheric & Environmental Research, Inc., 2682 Bishop Drive, Suite 120, San Ramon, California 94583, USA.
Abstract:
A new model for atmospheric secondary organic aerosol (SOA) is presented for biogenic compounds. It is based to the extent possible on experimental molecular SOA data, and it is compatible with any existing gas-phase chemical kinetic mechanism. Six SOA precursors or groups of precursors are used to represent biogenic monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes. SOA formation is modeled using five SOA surrogates to represent classes of compounds with different partitioning properties, e.g., hydrophobicity, aqueous solubility, acid dissociation, and saturation vapor pressure. Model simulations are evaluated against smog chamber data for SOA yields and some adjustments are made to uncertain stoichiometric coefficients and saturation vapor pressure parameters to improve model performance. The model is applied undertypical atmospheric conditions to exemplify the effect of relative humidity on SOA formation and the relative contributions of hydrophilic and hydrophobic SOA.
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