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

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