Degradation of indoor limonene by outdoor ozone: A cascade of secondary organic aerosols.

In indoor air, terpene-ozone reactions can form secondary organic aerosols (SOA) in a transient process. 'Real world' measurements conducted in a furnished room without air conditioning were modelled involving the indoor background of airborne particulate matter, outdoor ozone infiltrated by natural ventilation, repeated transient limonene evaporations, and different subsequent ventilation regimes. For the given setup, we disentangled the development of nucleated, coagulated, and condensed SOA fractions in the indoor air and calculated the time dependence of the aerosol mass fraction (AMF) by means of a process model. The AMF varied significantly between 0.3 and 5.0 and was influenced by the ozone limonene ratio and the background particles which existed prior to SOA formation. Both influencing factors determine whether nucleation or adsorption processes are preferred; condensation is strongly intensified by particulate background. The results provide evidence that SOA levels in natural indoor environments can surpass those known from chamber measurements. An indicator for the SOA forming potential of limonene was found to be limona ketone. Multiplying its concentration (in µg/m3) by 450(±100) provides an estimate of the concentration of the reacted limonene. This can be used to detect a high particle formation potential due to limonene pollution, e.g. in epidemiological studies considering adverse health effects of indoor air pollutants.

The lasting effect of limonene-induced particle formation on air quality in a genuine indoor environment.

Atmospheric ozone-terpene reactions, which form secondary organic aerosol (SOA) particles, can affect indoor air quality when outdoor air mixes with indoor air during ventilation. This study, conducted in Leipzig, Germany, focused on limonene-induced particle formation in a genuine indoor environment (24 m(3)). Particle number, limonene and ozone concentrations were monitored during the whole experimental period. After manual ventilation for 30 min, during which indoor ozone levels reached up to 22.7 ppb, limonene was introduced into the room at concentrations of approximately 180 to 250 µg m(-3). We observed strong particle formation and growth within a diameter range of 9 to 50 nm under real-room conditions. Larger particles with diameters above 100 nm were less affected by limonene introduction. The total particle number concentrations (TPNCs) after limonene introduction clearly exceed outdoor values by a factor of 4.5 to 41 reaching maximum concentrations of up to 267,000 particles cm(-3). The formation strength was influenced by background particles, which attenuated the formation of new SOA with increasing concentration, and by ozone levels, an increase of which by 10 ppb will result in a six times higher TPNC. This study emphasizes indoor environments to be preferred locations for particle formation and growth after ventilation events. As a consequence, SOA formation can produce significantly higher amounts of particles than transported by ventilation into the indoor air.