Atmospheric reaction products from hazardous air pollutant degradation. Final Report, April 1982-March 1984

The products of selected hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) as they react in the atmosphere were investigated. Many hazardous or potentially hazardous organic compounds are emitted into the atmosphere and are subject to chemical change by photolysis, or by reaction with a number of highly reactive species including free radicals ozone, and nitrogen oxides. It is important to understand both the fate and the persistance of a HAP in order to assess its health significance. However, for many HAPs, the major atmospheric reaction products have not been identified. A number of the target HAPs were studied in Battelles 17.3 cu m smog chamber to determine major reaction products and to derive an estimate of atmospheric lifetime. Following the chamber studies, research was devoted to development of field-compatible sampling and analysis methods for those HAP reaction products which: (1) represent potential hazard, and (2) for which current methods are unavailable or unsuitable.