Biomass burning (BB) is one of the largest sources of carbonaceous aerosols with adverse impacts on air quality, visibility, health and climate. BB emits a few specific aromatic acids (p-hydroxybenzoic, vanillic, syringic and dehydroabietic acids) which have been widely used as key indicators for source identification of BB-derived carbonaceous aerosols in various environmental matrices. In addition, measurement of p-hydroxybenzoic and vanillic acids in snow and ice cores have revealed the historical records of the fire emissions. Despite their uniqueness and importance as tracers, our current understanding of analytical methods, concentrations, diagnostic ratios and degradation processes are rather limited and scattered in literature. In this review paper, firstly we have summarized the most established methods and protocols for the measurement of these aromatic acids in aerosols and ice cores. Secondly, we have highlighted the geographical variability in the abundances of these acids, their diagnostic ratios and degradation processes in the environments. The review of the existing data indicates that the concentrations of aromatic acids in aerosols vary greatly with locations worldwide, typically more abundant in urban atmosphere where biomass fuels are commonly used for residential heating and/or cooking purposes. In contrast, their concentrations are lowest in the polar regions which are avoid of localized emissions and largely influenced by long-range transport. The diagnostic ratios among aromatic acids can be used as good indicators for the relative amounts and types of biomass (e.g. hardwood, softwood and herbaceous plants) as well as photochemical oxidation processes. Although studies suggest that the degradation processes of the aromatic acids may be controlled by light, pH and hygroscopicity, a more careful investigation, including closed chamber studies, is highly appreciated.

This study investigated the hourly inorganic aerosol chemistry and its impact on atmospheric visibility over an urban area in Central Taiwan, by relying on measurements of aerosol light extinction, inorganic gases, and PM₂.₅ water-soluble ions (WSIs), and simulations from a thermodynamic equilibrium model. On average, the sulfate (SO₄²⁻), nitrate (NO₃⁻), and ammonium (NH₄⁺) components (SNA) contributed ∼90% of WSI concentrations, which in turn made up about 50% of the PM₂.₅ mass. During the entire observation period, PM₂.₅ and SNA concentrations, aerosol pH, aerosol liquid water content (ALWC), and sulfur and nitrogen conversion ratios all increased with decreasing visibility. In particular, the NO₃⁻ contribution to PM₂.₅ increased, whereas the SO₄²⁻ contribution decreased, with decreasing visibility. The diurnal variations of the above parameters indicate that the interaction and likely mutual promotion between NO₃⁻ and ALWC enhanced the hygroscopicity and aqueous-phase reactions conducive for NO₃⁻ formation, thus led to severely impaired visibility. The high relative humidity (RH) at the study area (average 70.7%) was a necessary but not sole factor leading to enhanced NO₃⁻ formation, which was more directly associated with elevated ALWC and aerosol pH. Simulations from the thermodynamic model depict that the inorganic aerosol system in the study area was characterized by fully neutralized SO₄²⁻ (i.e. a saturated factor in visibility reduction) and excess NH₄⁺ amidst a NH₃-rich environment. As a result, PM₂.₅ composition was most sensitive to gas-phase HNO₃, and hence NOx, and relatively insensitive to NH₃. Consequently, a reduction of NOx would result in instantaneous cuts of NO₃⁻, PM₂.₅, and ALWC, and hence improved visibility. On the other hand, a substantial amount of NH₃ reduction (>70%) would be required to lower the aerosol pH, driving more than 50% of the particulate phase NO₃⁻ to the gas phase, thereby making NH₃ a limiting factor in shifting PM₂.₅ composition.

Black carbon (BC) and carbon monoxide (CO) at different model levels from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) reanalysis were comprehensively evaluated against observations performed simultaneously on both surface and mountain sites in winter and summer in the North China Plain for the first time. CAMS could capture the seasonal difference in BC and CO emission on both sites but showed significant and persistent biases. Biases were high on the surface site and low on the mountain site for both seasons, implying the uncertainties in emission inventories used in the CAMS reanalysis which may have more influence near source. Biases were reduced and the correlation coefficient of CAMS BC with observed BC increased when two datasets were compared on a daily basis, which suggests daily or longer time averaged CAMS BC could be more suitable for trend analysis. Although CAMS could generally reproduce the distinct diurnal variation of BC and CO on both sites, the inaccurate representation of the daily evolution of planetary boundary layer (PBL) in model may bring more uncertainties to the concentration biases on surface from midnight to early morning. BC hydrophilic ratio from CAMS displayed large biases compared to observations with no seasonal difference on both sites, which was probably resulted from the initial emission state of BC hygroscopicity for all source types in model. Uncertainties in the removal processes and the simplified aging processes in model could further induce uncertainty in modelling BC hydrophilic ratio in the CAMS. These results could not only be referenced for the improvement on CAMS reanalysis but also facilitate model or trend analysis of BC and CO pollution by utilizing the CAMS reanalysis product from both short- and long-term perspectives, which will be beneficial to both the mitigation and policy-making on primary emissions in China.

The physico-chemical properties of submicron aerosols were measured in the spring of 2018 and 2019 over the Yellow Sea onboard the Gisang 1 research vessel. Aerosol number concentrations in 2019 were slightly higher than those in 2018, and the mean number concentrations of particles larger than 10 nm and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) at 0.6% supersaturation (S) in spring 2019 were 7312 ± 3807 cm⁻³ and 4816 ± 1692 cm⁻³, respectively. Aerosol concentrations in June were lower than those in April and May, which was considered to be due to the East Asian summer monsoon. Aerosol number concentrations and size distributions were significantly influenced by meteorological conditions, such as wind and relative humidity. Aitken and accumulation mode particles dominated the aerosol number size distributions over the Yellow Sea. A distinct new particle formation (NPF) and growth event was observed, the spatial extent of which was estimated to cover at least 200 km × 400 km of the Yellow Sea. The general characteristics of NPF and growth over the Yellow Sea were similar to those in rural areas. Aerosol number concentrations below 1000 cm⁻³ were recorded on extremely clean days. A CCN closure experiment conducted using previous measurement data showed good results, indicating that CCN concentrations can be estimated with good accuracy, and the hygroscopicity over the Yellow Sea was similar to that of aged continental aerosols.

The annual mean PM₂.₅ mass concentration has decreased because of the stringent emission controls implemented in Beijing, China in recent years, whereas the nitrate NO3– mass fraction in PM₂.₅ increases gradually. Low-visibility events occur frequently even though PM₂.₅ pollution has been mitigated significantly, with the daily mean PM₂.₅ mass concentration mostly less than 75 μg/m³. In this study, the non-linear relationship was analyzed between atmospheric visibility and PM₂.₅ based on chemical composition from a two-year field observation. Our results showed that NO3– became the main constituent of PM₂.₅, especially during the haze pollution episodes. A localized parameterization scheme was proposed between the atmospheric extinction coefficient (σext) and major chemical constituents of PM₂.₅ by multiple linear regression (MLR). The contribution of NO3– to σext increased with increasing air pollution, and NO3– became the most important contributor for PM₂.₅ above 75 μg/m³. The visibility decreased with increasing NO3– mass fraction for the same PM₂.₅ mass concentration when PM₂.₅ was above 20 μg/m³. The hygroscopicity of PM₂.₅ increased with increasing mass fraction of hygroscopic NO3–. These results stressed the importance of reducing particulate NO3– and its precursors (for instance, NH₃) through effective emission control measures as well as the tightening of PM₂.₅ standards to further improve air quality and visibility in Beijing.

Atmospheric particles were investigated from a haze episode in autumn 2012 in Beijing that was caused by transported pollutants emitted from biomass burning during the crop harvest season in the North China Plain. Four samples from haze and one sample from clean atmosphere were collected in sequence by a multiple-stage cascade impactor. Based on morphology and elemental compositions, the particles were classified into five types: accumulation-mode secondary particles with and without coating, naked and core–shell soot, and other particles. The ratios of accumulation-mode secondary particles to soot containing particles were 4.0, 2.3, 1.7, 1.8, and 5.5, i.e., secondary particles in haze were proportionally less abundant than those in clean air, which was caused by the different dominant secondary formation mechanisms during hazy and clean periods. Meanwhile, the ratios of particles with coating to those without coating were 0.5, 1.0, 0.7, 0.6, and 0.2, implying that the particles in haze were likely more hygroscopic than those in clean air. In haze, the size distributions of particles were multi-modal, with main modes of approximately 0.55–0.85 μm, suggesting that the particles were from multiple sources due to the transported biomass burning plumes mixed with urban air. The size distribution was unimodal in clean air, and the mode was approximately 0.35 μm, with a mean equivalent diameter of 0.45 μm. The core–shell ratio distribution for soot particles collected in haze induced by biomass-burning aerosols was quite different from those in clean air, and soot particles were more aged in haze samples.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The study of organic aerosol hygroscopic growth and cloud droplet activation is crucial for accurately quantifying their climate and environmental impacts. However, the physical mechanisms behind organic aerosol hygroscopicity variations are not well understood. In this review, we summarized laboratory and field measurements of the organic aerosol hygroscopicity parameter κOA, discussed the physical understanding of why κOA was generally positively correlated with organic aerosol oxidation level, summarized proposed κOA parameterization schemes, and examined possible explanations for the marked differences among these parameterization schemes. RECENT FINDINGS: Recent findings challenged the general cognition that cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activity of secondary organic aerosol depended largely on solubility, showing it to be mainly controlled by molecular weight, yet the universality of this finding needs to be further examined. It was found that carbon chain length and functional groups had significant impacts on κOA and additional parameters other than O/C ratio need to be included when parameterizing κOA of multifunctional compounds, which is typically the case for ambient atmospheric aerosols. Additionally, laboratory results of secondary organic aerosol suggest that κOA might be highly RH-dependent under sub-saturated conditions, especially for biogenic secondary organic aerosols. This review summarized laboratory and field measurements of atmospheric organic aerosol hygroscopicity parameter κOA and its parameterization schemes. The results demonstrate that representing κOA with a single oxidation level parameter still bears large uncertainty, and physical mechanisms associated with hygroscopic growth and cloud activation processes of organic aerosol still remain unresolved and need further investigation.

It is rather essential to design porous carbon adsorbents with high CO₂ capture performance for improving global warming and climate change. Activated carbon spheres with high specific surface area and hierarchical porous texture were prepared from polystyrene-based macroreticular resin spheres due to their low ash and mechanical stability by air pre-oxidization and steam activation. The as-prepared carbon spheres had a specific surface area of 1274.95 m² g⁻¹, total pore volume of 1.09 cm³ g⁻¹ and micropore volume of 0.47 cm³ g⁻¹. Moreover, these carbon spheres showed a hierarchical porous texture composed of ultrafine micropores (0.5–1 nm), micropores (1–2 nm), mesopores (10–50 nm) and macropores (50–100 nm). A CO₂ adsorption capacity of 2.82 mmol g⁻¹ for carbon spheres can be obtained at 30 °C and 1 atm. Further, after introducing nitrogen-containing functional groups by gaseous ammonia at 600 °C, these carbon spheres (NPSRCSs) exhibited a high CO₂ adsorption capacity of 3.2 mmol g⁻¹. In addition, excellent cyclic stability, low hygroscopicity and regenerability temperature suggested these carbon spheres were favorable for CO₂ capture.

Migraine which is characterized by a pulsating headache affected an estimated population of 12% worldwide. Herbal products like latex derived from Calotropis gigantea R. Br. (Asclepiadaceae) are a representative intervention to treat migraine traditionally. However, post-harvesting stability issues of latex affect its biological potential. Freeze-drying has been successfully employed for the encapsulation of herbal bioactive compounds resulting in stable dried preparations. Latex derived from Calotropis gigantea (C. gigantea) was microencapsulated using chitosan by freeze-drying (FDCG) method and compared with sun ray–dried latex (ADCG). Current investigation was aimed to improve the shelf life of latex by freeze-drying microencapsulation technique and evaluation of its anti-migraine potential. Dried latex powders (ADCG and FDCG) were evaluated in terms of phenolic content, coloring strength, first-order kinetic, color parameters (L*, a*, b*, C*, and E*), moisture, water activity, solubility, and hygroscopicity. Additionally, apomorphine-induced climbing behavior, L-5-HTP–induced syndrome, and MK-801–induced hyperactivity were used to evaluate the anti-migraine potential of powdered latex. FDCG showed good physicochemical properties due to its higher concentration of phenolic and flavonoid contents. Moreover, FDCG significantly reduced the apomorphine-induced climbing behavior, L-5-HTP–induced syndrome, and MK-801–induced hyperactivity in a dose-dependent manner through an interaction of dopaminergic and serotonergic receptors. In conclusion, the method developed for shelf life improvement of latex offered maximum protection over a period of 10 weeks with retaining its natural biological potential; thus, it can be effectively utilized in the treatment or management of migraine. Anti-migraine effect of Calotropis gigantea freeze-dried latex by inhibition of dopamine and serotonin receptors (D1 and D2: dopamine receptors; 5-HT: serotonin receptors); yellow color represents serotonergic, and blue color indicates dopaminergic neurons

The development of products from wastes such as plastic and lignocellulosic materials brings great advantages from the economic and sustainable point of view. The use of waste, previously destined for disposal, enables the changes in production patterns, and prevents major environmental problems. This research investigated the inclusion of different contents of cocoa almond husk on the properties of composites with recycled low-density polyethylene (LDPE) matrix. The composites were produced by extrusion process with proportions: 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% of cocoa waste reinforcement in the polymer matrix. The density of the composites decreased (from 0.81 to 0.61 g/cm³) with the addition of the lignocellulosic waste in the matrix. The hygroscopicity was increased, however, at considerably low levels (0.17 to 2.68 %). There was a decrease in composite strength and elongation, becoming the material more rigid. The use of the cocoa waste for composites production is feasible to use since it can be adapted to the required application and still incorporate additives requested for specific purposes. This research demonstrated that is possible the combination of recycled low-density polyethylene and lignocellulosic wastes for the production of materials with high added value.