Integrated approaches to modeling the organic and inorganic atmospheric aerosol components

A series of modeling approaches for the description of the dynamic behavior of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) components and their interactions with inorganics is presented. The models employ a lumped species approach based on available smog chamber studies and the UNIquac Functional-group Activity Coefficient (UNIFAC) method to estimate SOA water absorption. The additional water due to SOA species can change the partitioning behavior of the semi-volatile inorganics. Primary organic particles significantly influence the SOA partitioning between gas and aerosol phases. The SOA size distribution predicted by a bulk equilibrium approach is biased toward smaller sizes compared with that of a fully dynamic model. An improved weighting scheme for the bulk equilibrium approach is proposed in this work and is shown to minimize this discrepancy. SOA is predicted to increase the total aerosol water in Southern California by 2–13% depending on conditions. However, the effect of SOA water absorption on aerosol nitrate is insignificant for all the cases studied in Southern California.