Atmospheric volatile organic compounds and ozone formation potential

What is it about?

The relative contribution of individual volatile organic compounds (VOC) species to photochemical ozone formation depends on their atmospheric concentrations and their oxidation mechanism. This paper evaluates ozone creation potential of captured ambient VOCs in an urban settlement of Benin City, Nigeria. The observed concentrations of individual VOCs were determined and maximum incremental reactivity (MIR) coefficient along with rate constants of VOC-OH reactions were applied to assess the ozone formation potential. Sixteen VOC species were observed at various sites with mixing height in decreasing order: toluene (5.82), mp-xylene (3.58), ethylbenzene (3.46), benzene (2.29), and n-butane (0.84).The ozone formation potential study revealed that, ranking by propyl-equivalent, the alkanes included in this study account for 58% of the total propyl-equivalent concentration.

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Why is it important?

This paper is aimed at identifying key VOC species and assessing the reactivities of each VOC in the atmosphere of Benin City, Southern Nigeria. The study also includes evaluation of the relative ozone-forming potentials of the captured VOC species in the atmosphere of this urban settlement of Southern Nigeria from data obtained between May 2010 and June 2011.

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