posted on 1999-10-12, 00:00authored byKai-Uwe Goss, René P. Schwarzenbach
The transport of organic pollutants in the atmosphere is
strongly affected by their tendency to sorb to aerosol particles
or to terrestrial surfaces. Adsorption to the surfaces of
mineral oxides or salts is one of the relevant processes.
In a previous paper, a conceptual model for the quantification
of gas/surface adsorption equilibria was presented. Here
we report surface parameters that are required by this model
for a number of natural inorganic surfaces as a function
of relative humidity. With these values it becomes possible
to include the estimation of the adsorption equilibrium of
organic vapors to inorganic surfaces into fate models for the
exchange between the atmosphere and soil surfaces
where so far only absorption into soil organic matter has
been considered. The reported surface parameters can
also be used for a comparison of the sorption capacity of
inorganic aerosol particles with the sorption capacity
that has been measured for urban aerosol particles. The
results show that the sorption capacity of urban particles is
much too high to be explained by the prevalence of
inorganic particles.