Particle acidity and sulfate production during severe haze events in China cannot be reliably inferred by assuming a mixture of inorganic salts

Wang, Gehui; Zhang, Fang; Peng, Jianfei; Duan, Lian; Ji, Yuemeng; Marrero-Ortiz, Wilmarie; Wang, Jiayuan; Li, Jianjun; Wu, Can; Cao, Cong; Wang, Yuan; Zheng, Jun; Secrest, Jeremiah; Li, Yixin; Wang, Yuying; Li, Hong; Li, Na; Zhang, Renyi

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-10123-2018

Articles | Volume 18, issue 14

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-10123-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

Regional transport and transformation of air pollution in...

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-10123-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 18, issue 14

Research article

|

17 Jul 2018

Research article |

| 17 Jul 2018

Particle acidity and sulfate production during severe haze events in China cannot be reliably inferred by assuming a mixture of inorganic salts

Gehui Wang, Fang Zhang, Jianfei Peng, Lian Duan, Yuemeng Ji, Wilmarie Marrero-Ortiz, Jiayuan Wang, Jianjun Li, Can Wu, Cong Cao, Yuan Wang, Jun Zheng, Jeremiah Secrest, Yixin Li, Yuying Wang, Hong Li, Na Li, and Renyi Zhang

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Final revised paper (published on 17 Jul 2018)
Preprint (discussion started on 22 Feb 2018)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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RC1: 'Review of Wang et al.', Anonymous Referee #1, 05 Apr 2018
- AC1: 'Our response to the comments of Referee #1', Gehui Wang, 26 May 2018
RC2: 'Acidity and sulfate production', Anonymous Referee #2, 18 Apr 2018
- AC2: 'Our response to the comments of Referee #2', Gehui Wang, 26 May 2018
SC1: 'Acidity of particles in the two experimental systems should be almost the same', Shaojie Song, 19 Apr 2018
- SC3: 'Emphasizing the importance of volatility for aerosol composition', Athanasios Nenes, 19 Apr 2018
- AC3: 'Reply to the short comments from Shaojie Song by Gehui Wang', Gehui Wang, 28 May 2018
SC2: 'Issues with conceptual aspects of the manuscript', Athanasios Nenes, 19 Apr 2018
- SC4: 'we don't really know the phase state of Beijing winter haze particles', Shaojie Song, 19 Apr 2018
  - AC4: 'Reply to the short comments from Shaojie Song by Gehui Wang', Gehui Wang, 28 May 2018
- AC5: 'Reply to the short comments from Nenes et al by Gehui Wang', Gehui Wang, 28 May 2018

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Gehui Wang on behalf of the Authors (29 May 2018) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (31 May 2018) by Zhanqing Li

RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (25 Jun 2018)

ED: Publish as is (02 Jul 2018) by Zhanqing Li

AR by Gehui Wang on behalf of the Authors (03 Jul 2018) Manuscript

Short summary

Several studies using thermodynamic models estimated pH and sulfate formation rate during pollution periods in China are highly conflicting. Here we show distinct sulfate formation for organic seed particles from that of (NH₄)₂SO₄ seeds, when the particles are exposed to SO₂, NO₂, and NH₃ at high RH. Our results reveal that the pH value of ambient organics-dominated aerosols is sufficiently high to promote efficient SO₂ oxidation by NO₂ with NH₃ neutralization under polluted conditions in China.