The characteristics of secondary organic reactions were studied based on supersite monitoring data from January to March, 2019, in Tianjin. During heavy pollution episodes, SOC (secondary organic carbon) accounted for between 3.1% and 3.8% of PM2.5, and the growth rate of SOC was obviously higher than that of PM2.5, thus indicating that secondary organic reactions had a considerable effect on PM2.5. The growth rate of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) was lower than that of PM2.5, which was probably due to the fact that VOCs were consumed as precursors to secondary particles. The ratio of ethane to acetylene was higher than 2.0 during heavy pollution episodes indicating that air masses were old, and the ratio was lower than clean air days showing that the reaction activities were higher than before. During the heavy pollution episodes, the potential formation of SOA (secondary organic aerosol) from VOCs ranged from 0.49 to 1.21 μg·m-3. Among the species, aromatic hydrocarbons contributed the most, whereby the highest contribution exceeded 90%, and their growth rates were also the highest; hence, aromatic hydrocarbons were the VOCs species that had the greatest effect on SOA.
Keywords: PM2.5; fractional aerosol coefficient (FAC); heavy pollution episode; secondary organic aerosol (SOA); volatile organic compounds (VOCs).