Autoxidation and Autoignition of Anthropogenic Volatile Organic Compounds (AAAVOC)

The project investigates gas-phase autocatalytic oxidation of anthropogenic volatile organic compounds - the hydrocarbon emission burden caused by human activities. These processes have far-reaching consequences for pollutant formation and related air quality but also for modern combustion engines aimed for cleaner energy production. The same gas-phase chemistry that leads to spontaneous formation of air pollutants can generate significantly cleaner energy by combustion, when run under careful control. This control has been lacking due to poor understanding of the underlying chemistry, and the progress has been hindered at least partly by missing suitable research instrumentation able to measure the highly-oxidised products. This project uses a combination of flow reactor investigations and high-level theoretical calculations to uncover novel reaction pathways. Our previous works detailing biogenic compound autoxidation serves as a crucial starting material for this project.