Transient secondary organic aerosol formation from limonene ozonolysis in indoor environments: impacts of air exchange rates and initial concentration ratios.

Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) results from the oxidation of reactive organic gases (ROGs) and is an indoor particle source. The aerosol mass fraction (AMF), a.k.a. SOA yield, quantifies the SOA forming potential of ROGs and is the ratio of generated SOA to oxidized ROG. The AMF depends on the organic aerosol concentration, as well as the prevalence of later generation reactions. AMFs have been measured in unventilated chambers or steady-state flow through chambers. However, indoor settings have outdoor air exchange, and indoor SOA formation often occurs when ROGs are transiently emitted, for instance from emissions of cleaning products. Herein, we quantify "transient AMFs" from ozonolysis of pulse-emitted limonene in a ventilated chamber, for 18 experiments at low (0.28 h(-1)), moderate (0.53 h(-1)), and high (0.96 h(-1)) air exchange rates (AER) with varying initial ozone-limonene ratios. Transient AMFs increased with the amount of ROG reacted; AMFs also increased with decreasing AERs and increasing initial ozone-limonene ratios, which together likely promoted more ozone reactions with the remaining exocyclic bond of oxidized limonene products in the SOA phase. Knowing the AER and initial ozone-limonene ratio is crucial to predict indoor transient SOA behavior accurately.