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Updated: Jun 6, 2025

Production and Measurement of Organic Particulate Matter in a Flow Tube Reactor
Published on: December 15, 2018
High Viscosity and Two Phases Observed over a Range of Relative Humidities in Biomass Burning Organic Aerosol from
Nealan G A Gerrebos1, Julia Zaks1, Florence K A Gregson1
1Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada.
Abstract:
Biomass burning organic aerosol (BBOA) is a major contributor to organic aerosol in the atmosphere. The impacts of BBOA on climate and health depend strongly upon their physicochemical properties, including viscosity and phase behavior (number and types of phases); these properties are not yet fully characterized. We collected BBOA field samples during the 2021 British Columbia wildfire season to constrain the viscosity and phase behavior at a range of relative humidities and compared them to previous studies on BBOA. Particles from all samples exhibited two-phased behavior with a polar hydrophilic phase and a nonpolar hydrophobic phase. We used the poke-flow viscosity technique to estimate the viscosity of the particles. Both phases of the BBOA had viscosities of >108 Pa s at relative humidities up to 50%. Such high viscosities correspond to mixing times within 200 nm BBOA particles of >5 h. Two phases and high viscosity have implications for how BBOA should be treated in atmospheric models.
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