Atmospheric breakdown chemistry of the new “green” solvent 2,2,5,5-tetramethyloxolane via gas-phase reactions with OH and Cl radicals

Mapelli, Caterina; Schleicher, Juliette V.; Hawtin, Alex; Rankine, Conor D.; Whiting, Fiona C.; Byrne, Fergal; McElroy, C. Rob; Roman, Claudiu; Arsene, Cecilia; Olariu, Romeo I.; Bejan, Iustinian G.; Dillon, Terry J.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14589-2022

Articles | Volume 22, issue 22

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14589-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14589-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 22, issue 22

Research article

|

17 Nov 2022

Research article |

| 17 Nov 2022

Atmospheric breakdown chemistry of the new “green” solvent 2,2,5,5-tetramethyloxolane via gas-phase reactions with OH and Cl radicals

Caterina Mapelli, Juliette V. Schleicher, Alex Hawtin, Conor D. Rankine, Fiona C. Whiting, Fergal Byrne, C. Rob McElroy, Claudiu Roman, Cecilia Arsene, Romeo I. Olariu, Iustinian G. Bejan, and Terry J. Dillon

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Final revised paper (published on 17 Nov 2022)
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Preprint (discussion started on 04 Jul 2022)
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Status: closed

RC1: 'Comment on acp-2022-446', Anonymous Referee #1, 12 Jul 2022

This paper reports the results of a careful experimental and computational study of the kinetics of the reactions of hydroxyl radicals and chlorine atoms with a new solvent, 2,2,5,5-tetramethyloxolane. The results are presented in a clear and logical fashion and I recommend publication essentially as is.

I have only one suggestion for improvement which is to remove the claim of "green" for the subject molecule in the title (which sounds a little unscientific) and to add a quantitative justification for the conclusion in the abstract that TMO is a "less problematic" VOC than toluene. Jenkin et al. (Atmos. Environ., 163, 128, 2017) have provided a method to estimate the photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP) from molecular structure and k(OH). This method could be used to estimate the POCP for TMO which could then be compared to that for toluene (and other solvents).

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-446-RC1
RC2: 'Comment on acp-2022-446', Anonymous Referee #2, 20 Jul 2022

see attachment

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-446-RC2
AC1: 'Comment on acp-2022-446', Caterina Mapelli, 05 Sep 2022

We thank both reviewers for their time and attention and for the insightful and constructive comments on our research paper. The suggestions have all contributed to an improved manuscript. A detailed response to the comments can be found attached.

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-446-AC1

Peer review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload

AR by Caterina Mapelli on behalf of the Authors (03 Oct 2022) Author's response Author's tracked changes Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (10 Oct 2022) by Andreas Hofzumahaus

AR by Caterina Mapelli on behalf of the Authors (11 Oct 2022)

Short summary

Solvents represent an important source of pollution from the chemical industry. New "green" solvents aim to replace toxic solvents with new molecules made from renewable sources and designed to be less harmful. Whilst these new molecules are selected according to toxicity and other characteristics, no consideration has yet been included on air quality. Studying the solvent breakdown in air, we found that TMO has a lower impact on air quality than traditional solvents with similar properties.