Oxygen-18 estimation of primary sulfate in total sulfate scavenged by rain from a power-plant plume

TL;DRAbstract

The use of an oxygen-isotope technique for determining the relative amounts of primary and secondary sulfates in atmospheric sulfates is proposed. The application of this technique to the estimation of the relative amounts primary sulfates and SO/sub 2/ scavenged from the plume of a large power plant by summer rains is described. Results are given for the percent primary sulfate calculated for the sulfates scavenged by rain in the precipation events that were not disqualified by the three imposed constraints. The average is 48%; the corresponding averages for background rain and rain at test sites for the same events were 24% and 37%, respectively. These results imply that about 48% of the scavenged sulfates originated in the power generating units as SO/sub 3/ which subsequently hydrolized with water vapor in the flue gas to form particulate sulfate. The other 52% originated as SO/sub 2/ which oxidized in the plume-rain system to form the secondary sulfates, later found in the collect

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