Aerosol Growth Due to Heterogeneous Reaction I. A Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor System for the Study of Aqueous Aerosol Chemistry

A continuous stirred tank reactor system for measuring particle growth as a result of heterogeneous aqueous-phase SO_2 reaction is described. Special attention was focused on the aerosol measurement instruments and care was taken to minimize size biasing as a result of humidity changes within the instruments. The differential mobility analyzer (DMA) inversion method developed by Hoppel was tested for its ability to predict distribution peak diameter. Less than 1% error in the diameter determination was found for experimentally plausible levels of either random particle number count error or instrument flowrate error. The DMA was determined to be capable of resolving a 0.001- to 0.002-μm-diameter change which is crucial in the particle growth experiments