Performance of Formaldehyde, Ethylene and Propylene NOX systems: A hierarchical approach for the use of smog chamber data for chemical mechanism

A hierarchical approach for the use of smog chamber data for chemical mechanism development was established by Gary Whitten and Jim Killus at Systems Applications Incorporated (SAI) in San Rafael California in the late 1970s (Whitten et al., 1980). The concept was to start with simple compounds and build to the more complex. Hence if one were to build a kinetic mechanism for propylene, mechanisms would have to first be generated from smog chamber experiments with its two primary products, formaldehyde and acetaldehyde. Formaldehyde photochemically reacts and produces carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen, so one would also want experiments with CO and NOx. Acetaldehyde photochemically produces formaldehyde and peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN). Ethylene reacts to form formaldehyde and CO and hence formaldehyde and CO experiments are needed for ethylene model development.