- 1Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, Univeristy of York, York, United Kingdom (terry.dillon@york.ac.uk)
- 2Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence, Department of Chemistry, University of York, York, United Kingdom (rxn502@york.ac.uk)
- 3Integrated Centre of Environmental Science Studies in the North Eastern Region (CERNESIM), "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University of Iasi, Iasi, Romania (iustinian.bejan@uaic.ro)
- 4Research Center with Integrated Techniques for Atmospheric Aerosol Investigation in Romania (RECENT-AIR), "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University of Iasi, Iasi, Romania
- 5Faculty of Chemistry, "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University of Iasi, Iasi, Romania
Organic solvents play an important role in industry, but as the world progresses towards net-zero, their synthesis and end-of-life have become critical areas of research. Most traditional solvents are toxic, petrochemically derived and contribute significantly to chemical waste. Additionally, they have significant impact on air quality because of their role as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), able to fuel atmospheric cycles that generate ozone (O3) and other harmful gases.1 While VOC emissions from many sectors are decreasing, emissions from solvents are on the rise.2 Notable research efforts focus on developing “green” solvents that are sustainable, renewable, and less toxic but little is known about their air impact.
This research focuses on a promising solvent, ethyl lactate, a bioderived ester from glucose, relevant in various industries. The work addresses the air quality research gap by studying its atmospheric behaviour including its lifetime, photochemical ozone creation potential, and gas-phase breakdown routes.
To achieve these objectives, this work employs methods such as Pulsed Laser Photolysis–Laser Induced Fluorescence for direct OH decay kinetics, UV-vis. spectroscopy for absorption cross-sections and calculating photolysis rate coefficients, and relative rate OH kinetics experiments carried out at an Atmospheric Simulation Chamber (ESC-Q-UAIC facility, CERNESIM centre, Romania).
Relative rate kinetic studies in the atmospheric chamber estimated the kOH(296K)for ethyl lactate as (2.8 ± 0.5) x 10-12 cm3 molecule−1 s−1. Using a mean tropospheric [OH]3, the lifetime with respect to OH was estimated to be 4 days. Other preliminary experiments have revealed small UV absorption cross-sections (310 – 350 nm). Further investigations are ongoing to refine and improve on these results and so determine air quality impacts.
Keywords: green, volatile organic compound emissions, air quality impact
The atmospheric chamber results presented in this work is part of a Transnational access project that is supported by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 – Research and Innovation Framework Programme, H2020-INFRAIA-2020-1, ATMO-ACCESS Grant Agreement number: 101008004.
References
1 M. E. Jenkin, R. Valorso, B. Aumont, A. R. Rickard and T. J. Wallington, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 2018, 18, 9297–9328.
2 A. C. Lewis, J. R. Hopkins, D. C. Carslaw, J. F. Hamilton, B. S. Nelson, G. Stewart, J. Dernie, N. Passant and T. Murrells, Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci, 2020, 378, 20190328.
3 J. Lelieveld, S. Gromov, A. Pozzer and D. Taraborrelli, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2016, 16, 12477–12493.
How to cite: Raymond, S. U., D'Souza Metcalf, J., Roman, C., Arsene, C., Olariu, R., Sneddon, H., Bejan, I., and Dillon, T.: Air Quality Impact of a “Green” Solvent – Ethyl Lactate , EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-6459, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-6459, 2025.
