Kinetics of the reactions of soot surface-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with NO2

The kinetics of heterogeneous reactions of NO2 with 17 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) adsorbed on laboratory generated kerosene soot surface was studied over the temperature range (255-330) K in a low pressure flow reactor combined with an electron-impact mass spectrometer. The kinetics of soot-bound PAH consumption due to their desorption and reaction with NO2 were monitored using off-line HPLC measurements of their concentrations in soot samples as a function of reaction time, NO2 concentrations in the gas phase being analyzed by mass spectrometer. No measurable decay of PAHs due to the reaction with NO2 was observed under experimental conditions of the study (maximum NO2 concentration of 5.5 x 10(14) molecule cm(-3) and reaction time of 45 min), which allowed to determine the upper limits of the first-order rate constants for the heterogeneous reactions of 17 soot-bound PAHs with NO2: k < 5.0 x 10(-5) s(-1) (for most PAHs studied). Comparison of these results to previous studies carried on different carbonaceous substrates, showed that heterogeneous reactivity of PAHs towards NO2 is, probably, dependent on the substrate nature even for resembling, although different carbonaceous materials. Results show that particulate PAHs degradation by NO2 alone is of minor importance in the atmosphere.