Subscriber access provided by UNIV OF REGINA
Article 3
2
Atmospheric chemistry of (CF)CF-C#N - A replacement compound for the most potent industrial greenhouse gas, SF
6
Mads Peter Sulbaek Andersen, Mildrid Kyte, Simone Thirstrup Andersen, Claus Jørgen Nielsen, and Ole John Nielsen Environ. Sci. Technol., Just Accepted Manuscript • DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.6b03758 • Publication Date (Web): 12 Dec 2016 Downloaded from http://pubs.acs.org on January 4, 2017
Just Accepted “Just Accepted” manuscripts have been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication. They are posted online prior to technical editing, formatting for publication and author proofing. The American Chemical Society provides “Just Accepted” as a free service to the research community to expedite the dissemination of scientific material as soon as possible after acceptance. “Just Accepted” manuscripts appear in full in PDF format accompanied by an HTML abstract. “Just Accepted” manuscripts have been fully peer reviewed, but should not be considered the official version of record. They are accessible to all readers and citable by the Digital Object Identifier (DOI®). “Just Accepted” is an optional service offered to authors. Therefore, the “Just Accepted” Web site may not include all articles that will be published in the journal. After a manuscript is technically edited and formatted, it will be removed from the “Just Accepted” Web site and published as an ASAP article. Note that technical editing may introduce minor changes to the manuscript text and/or graphics which could affect content, and all legal disclaimers and ethical guidelines that apply to the journal pertain. ACS cannot be held responsible for errors or consequences arising from the use of information contained in these “Just Accepted” manuscripts.
Environmental Science & Technology is published by the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street N.W., Washington, DC 20036 Published by American Chemical Society. Copyright © American Chemical Society. However, no copyright claim is made to original U.S. Government works, or works produced by employees of any Commonwealth realm Crown government in the course of their duties.
Page 1 of 24
Environmental Science & Technology
Atmospheric chemistry of (CF3)2CF-C≡N - A replacement compound for the most potent industrial greenhouse gas, SF6
1 2 3 4
Mads P. Sulbaek Andersen1,2 *, Mildrid Kyte2, Simone Thirstrup Andersen2, Claus J. Nielsen3, and Ole John Nielsen2
5 6 7 8 9
1
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, California State University, Northridge, California 91330, USA 2
10 11 12
3
Copenhagen Center for Atmospheric Research, Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo, P.O.Box 1033 Blindern, 0315 Oslo, Norway
13 14 15
* Corresponding author (MPSA): Phone: +1 818 677 2492, Fax: +1 818 677 4068, E-mail:
[email protected].
16 17
Abstract
18
FTIR/smog chamber experiments and ab initio quantum calculations were performed to
19
investigate the atmospheric chemistry of (CF3)2CFCN, a proposed replacement compound for the
20
industrially important sulfur hexafluoride, SF6. The present study determined k(Cl +
21
(CF3)2CFCN)= (2.33 ± 0.87) × 10–17, k(OH + (CF3)2CFCN) = (1.45 ± 0.25) × 10-15 and k(O3 +
22
(CF3)2CFCN) ≤ 6×10-24 cm3 molecule–1 s–1, respectively, in 700 Torr of N2 or air diluent at 296 ±
23
2 K. The main atmospheric sink for (CF3)2CFCN was determined to be reaction with OH
24
radicals. Quantum chemistry calculations, supported by experimental evidence, shows that the
25
(CF3)2CFCN + OH reaction proceeds via OH addition to –C(≡N), followed by O2 addition to –
26
C(OH)=Ṅ, internal H-shift and OH regeneration. The sole atmospheric degradation products of
27
(CF3)2CFCN appears to be NO, COF2 and CF3C(O)F. The atmospheric lifetime of (CF3)2CFCN
28
is approximately 22 years. The integrated cross section (650-1500 cm-1) for (CF3)2CFCN is (2.22
29
± 0.11) × 10-16 cm2 molecule-1 cm-1 which results in a radiative efficiency of 0.217 W m-2 ppb-1.
1 ACS Paragon Plus Environment
Environmental Science & Technology
Page 2 of 24
30
The 100-year Global Warming Potential (GWP) for (CF3)2CFCN was calculated as 1490, a
31
factor of 15 less than that of SF6.
32
1. Introduction
33
Sulphur hexafluoride, SF6, is a compound with important industrial applications such as a
34
dielectric insulator in high-voltage transformers, electric cables or buses, and circuit breakers or
35
switchgear. The usage of SF6 has been increasing since 1985 and current emissions are
36
approaching 10kt/a [1,2]. SF6 has a lifetime of 3200 years in the atmosphere and a Global
37
Warming Potential (GWP100) of 23,500 [1], which makes SF6 the most potent greenhouse gas.
38
Currently, the atmospheric mole fraction of SF6 is 7.28 ppq corresponding to a radiative forcing
39
of 0.0041 w/m2 [1]. Finding a suitable replacement technology for this compound would be
40
highly desirable. Heptafluoro-isobutyronitrile, (CF3)2CFCN, is a non-toxic compound and a
41
potential dielectric insulator replacement of SF6 [3,4]. Detailed knowledge of the atmospheric
42
chemistry of (CF3)2CFCN is warranted to access its potential environmental impact, before any
43
large scale production and industrial use of the compound. The present study investigates the
44
atmospheric chemistry of (CF3)2CFCN. Both smog chamber experiments and ab initio
45
calculations were conducted to determine the kinetics of reactions with OH radicals, with
46
chlorine atoms and with O3, the atmospheric oxidation mechanism, the atmospheric lifetime and
47
the global warming potential(s) of (CF3)2CFCN.
48 49
2. Experimental
50
2.1 Photo-reactor experiments
51
The experimental part of the present work was conducted in the recently updated
52
CCAR (Copenhagen Center for Atmospheric Research) photo-reactor. At the core of this
53
setup is a 101 liter quartz reactor interfaced with a Bruker IFS 66v/s FTIR spectrometer. See
54
Nilsson et al. [5] for details. All experiments in the present work were performed at 296 ± 1 K
55
in 700 Torr of air diluent. Using an analytical path length of 50.01-53.42 m, IR spectra were
56
obtained from averaging of 32 interferograms with a spectral resolution of 0.25 cm-1.
57
Quantitative analysis of reactant and reference compounds was performed using absorption
58
features over the following wavenumber ranges: CH4: 2860-3200; CF3CF2H: 869, 3001 cm-1;
59
CF3CH3: 1407, 1440 cm-1; (CF3)2CFCN: 2272 cm-1; O3: 2720-2785 cm-1; COF2: 1943 cm-1
60
and CF3C(O)F: 1897 cm-1. 2 ACS Paragon Plus Environment
Page 3 of 24
Environmental Science & Technology
61
Ozone was produced from pure O2 using a commercially available ozone-discharge
62
generator from O3-Technology, and pre-concentrated using a silica gel trap submerged in a
63
dry ice/isopropanol cooling bath (-77 oC), significantly reducing the amount of O2 introduced
64
into the chamber. (CF3)2CFCN was supplied by 3M with a purity of >99% and degassed in
65
several freeze-pump-thaw cycles before use. All other reagents used in in the present work
66
were purchased from commercial sources and certified with purities of >99%.
67 68 69
Chlorine atoms were produced by photolysis (Osram Eversun L100/79 UVA lamps, emission peak at 368 nm) of Cl2 according to reaction (1):
70 71
Cl2 + hv → 2 Cl
(1)
72 73
Hydroxyl radicals (OH) were generated effectively by photolysis of O3 using UVB lamps
74
(Waldmann F85/100 UV6, Wavelength region 280-360 nm) in the presence of H2:
75
O3 + hν → O(1D) + O2
(2)
1
76
H2 + O( D) → OH + H
(3)
77
O3 + H → OH + O2
(4)
78
H + O2 + M → HO2 + M
(5)
79
HO2 + O3 → OH + 2O2
(6)
80
HO2 + HO2 → H2O2 + O2
(7)
81
H2O2 + hν → 2 OH
(8)
82
OH + H2 → H + H2O
(9)
83
OH + O3 → HO2 + O2
(10)
84
OH + H2O2 → HO2 + H2O
(11)
85
OH + HO2 → H2O + O2
(12)
86
In 700 Torr of total pressure, quenching of O(1D) is significant, but the resulting O(3P) will
87
readily recombine with O2 to reform O3, which renders the reaction of O(3P) with any of the
88
organics of no importance at the levels present in the chamber. Reaction 3 and 4 produce OH
89
radicals in the ground state and also in excited vibrational states with ν ≤ 4 and ν ≤ 9 for reaction
90
3 and 4, respectively [6,7,8]. The excited OH species can be assumed to undergo complete
91
deactivation in collisions with N2 and O2 before reacting with any of the organics: firstly,
92
vibrational relaxation of OH by reaction with N2 and O2 occurs with rate coefficients of 10−15 3 ACS Paragon Plus Environment
Environmental Science & Technology
Page 4 of 24
93
and 10−13 cm3 molecule−1 s−1, respectively,[9] and secondly, the mixing ratios of O2 and N2 are
94
significantly larger (4−5 orders of magnitude) than any of the organic reactants.
95
One must also consider that the rate coefficients for O(1D) reaction with reference compounds
96
methane and H2 are of comparable magnitude, 1.75 × 10−10 and 1.2 × 10−10 cm3 molecule−1 s−1 at
97
298 K, [10] respectively (the reference rate coefficient for O(1D) reaction with CF3CF2H is 1.03
98
× 10-11 cm3 molecule−1 s−1 [10]; no rate coefficient exist for the reaction of O(1D) with
99
(CF3)2CFCN). However, the mixing ratios of H2 are typically 2-3 orders of magnitude larger than
100
those of the organics. Thus, and reaction of O(1D) with the organics these can be safely ignored
101
(see section 3.2).
102
Quantitative analysis of the reactants and products concentrations was achieved using
103
in situ FTIR spectroscopy and by process of spectral stripping in which a previously
104
quantified reference spectra was subtracted from the spectrum of interest. The reference
105
spectra employed here were calibrated by expanding known volumes of reference compounds
106
into the photo-reactor.
107
Kinetic measurements of chlorine atoms or OH radical reactions were conducted using
108
the well-established relative rate method. The loss of (CF3)2CFCN was measured relative to
109
one or more reference compounds and plotted using the expression:
110 111
[( ) ]
ln [(
) ]
( )
=
[ !]
ln [
!]
(I)
112 113
where [(CF3)2CFCN]t0, [(CF3)2CFCN]t, [Reference]t0, and [Reference]t are the concentrations
114
of the reactant and the reference at times t0 and t, and k(CF3)2CFCN and kreference are the rate
115
coefficients for the reactant and the reference. Plots of ln[(CF3)2CFCN]t0/[(CF3)2CFCN]t)
116
versus ln([Reference]t0/[Reference]t) should be linear, pass through the origin, and have a
117
slope of k(CF3)2CFCN/kreference.
118
Kinetic measurements for the O3 reaction were conducted using an absolute rate
119
method, where the pseudo first order loss of (CF3)2CFCN was determined in the presence of
120
excess O3.
121
Complications due to photolysis and heterogeneous reactions which can lead to
122
unwanted loss of reactants, reference compounds, and products, need to be considered.
123
Control experiments, in which mixtures of (CF3)2CFCN and reference compounds were 4 ACS Paragon Plus Environment
Page 5 of 24
Environmental Science & Technology
124
subjected to 30 mins of UV radiation in the absence of oxidants (Cl atoms, O3 or OH radicals)
125
were performed. Mixtures obtained after UV irradiations were also allowed to remain in the
126
chamber in the dark for 30 minutes. Neither set of control experiments showed any significant
127
loss of reactants or products (