Effect of water-saturated Kosa particles on the degradation of naphthalene

摘要

Kosa (Asian dust) is a large contributor to atmospheric aerosols and has attracted worldwide attentionfor posing a large challenge to global climate, visibility, and human health. East Asia is one of the world’s largest dustsources. Moreover, East Asian countries, especially China, are macroconsumers of fossil and biomass fuels, where bothparent and substituted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) remain at high levels in the atmosphere. During theprevalence of Kosa, a simultaneous increase in Kosa particles and particulate PAHs has been sometimes observed indownwind areas, and a rapid production of PAH derivatives has been observed in the later Kosa episode. Due to thepresence of transition metal ions and oxides, as well as the heterogeneous interactions with some gaseous molecules,Kosa particles are believed to act as carriers and reaction vessels for PAHs during long-range transportation and downwarddiffusion. The heterogeneous interaction between Kosa and PAHs may lead to worsened air quality and enhancedcytotoxicity and carcinogenicity of ambient particulates in downwind areas, therefore, this topic requires in-depthexploration. We have reported the weak or negligible adsorption of PAHs by Kosa particles at the 59th Annual Meeting ofJapan Society for Atmospheric Environmental. Thus, the purpose of this study was to clarify the primitive function ofKosa particles on the degradation of PAHs, which may drive the atmospheric behavior of PAHs, the generation ofsecondary aerosols and their health effects.