Method development for PILS-IC for large volume environmental chamber experiments on amine-based aerosol

Fugitive emissions of amines, such as monoethanolamine (MEA, 2-aminoethan-1-ol) or piperazine (PZ, diazacyclohexane) from industrial plants have the potential to generate aerosol under photooxidative conditions, yet the reaction mechanisms and nucleation process of these amine-systems is poorly understood. This project is aimed at developing a methodology to analyse the nucleation process(es) of these amine emissions. This included characterising CSIRO's new third generation environmental chamber and incorporating a semi-online Particle-Into-Liquid Sampler/Ion Chromatography (PILS-IC) system. The PILS-IC is required for the direct identification and quantification of water-soluble organic and inorganic fractions of aerosol mass. Chamber characterisation was achieved through several experiments including the determination of the NO₂ photolysis rate (0.512 ± 0.027 s⁻¹), the wall loss rate of ozone (5.6112 ± 0.0011) × 10⁻⁷ s⁻¹ and the wall loss coefficient β for particles in the bins 54.1 – 181.1 nm. During MEA irradiation experiments, the PILC-IC showed some expected trends. However, there are still several chamber auxiliary mechanisms and instrument refinements which require attention before the next stage. We anticipate that by incorporating the proposed changes described in the work, future experiments will allow the generation of data enabling the examination and the proposition of the nucleation process(es) of amine-aerosol.