Sources of fine organic aerosol. 1. Charbroilers and meat cooking operations

Abstract

Meat cooking operations are a major source of organic \naerosol emissions to the urban atmosphere, comprising up \nto 21 % of the primary fine organic carbon particle emissions \nin the Los Angeles area. In the present study, the \nchemical composition of meat smoke aerosol is examined \nby high-resolution gas chromatography and gas chromatography/ \nmass spectrometry. The objective is to search \nfor molecular markers that will confirm the presence of \nmeat smoke aerosol in urban atmospheric samples. More \nthan 75 organic compounds are quantified, including the \nseries of the n-alkanes, n-alkanoic acids, n-alkenoic acids, \ndicarboxylic acids, n-alkanals, n-alkenals, n-alkanones, \nn-alkanols, furans, lactones, amides, nitriles, polycyclic \naromatic hydrocarbons, steroids, and pesticide residues. \nProminent among the compounds emitted are n-hexadecanoic \nacid (i.e., palmitic acid), n-octadecanoic acid (i.e., \nstearic acid), cis-9-octadecenoic acid (i.e., oleic acid), nonanal, \n2-octadecanal, 2-octadecanol, and cholesterol. Although \ncholesterol can be emitted from other sources, \ncholesterol concentrations measured in the West Los Angeles \natmospheric aerosol are consistent with the cholesterol \nmass emission rates determined from meat cooking \nsource tests.