Stratospheric Chemical Lifetime of Aviation Fuel Incomplete Combustion Products
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atmosphere-13-01209.pdf
Size
1.33 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
38a87d3f03d1af3416c393d524b5ffa8
Author(s)
Bains, William
Viita, Eleanor
Petkowski, Janusz J.
Seager, Sara
Date Issued
August 1, 2022
Publisher
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Citation
Atmosphere 13 (8): 1209 (2022)
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The stratosphere contains haze rich in sulfuric acid, which plays a significant role in stratospheric chemistry and in global climate. Commercial aircraft deposit significant amounts of incomplete combustion products into the lower stratosphere. We have studied the stability of these incomplete combustion products to reaction with sulfuric acid, using a predictive model based on experimental reaction kinetics. We demonstrate that sulfuric acid chemistry is likely to be a significant component of the chemistry of organics in the stratosphere. We find that at least 25 of the 40 known incomplete combustion products from aviation fuel have lifetimes to reaction with aerosol sulfuric acid of at least months. We estimate that ~109 kg of long-lived products could be deposited per year in the lower stratosphere. We suggest that the high molecular weight organic compounds formed as incomplete combustion products of commercial long-haul aviation could play a significant role in the stratosphere.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13081209
