Institute of Energy and Climate Research (IEK)

Troposphere (IEK-8)

SAPHIR-STAR

SAPHIR^* (SAPHIR-STAR, Stirred Atmospheric flow Reactor)

The atmospheric simulation chamber SAPHIR^* (SAPHIR-STAR, Stirred Atmospheric flow Reactor) enhances the experimental possibilities at the SAPHIR chamber. SAPHIR^* is based on the principle of a constantly stirred tank reactor (CSTR) and is based on the successful concept of the JPAC chamber (selected publications: Mentel et al. (2009, 2013, 2015), Kiendler-Scharr et al (2009), Ehn et al. (2012, 2014), Wildt et al. (2014), Sarrafzadeh et al. (2016)). An average residence time of the air in the chamber is achieved by a chamber volume of 2m³ and a constant flow of 30 liters per minute. The supply of high purity air is realized either via the SAPHIR synthetic air supply or with purified ambient air. The use of different artificial light sources enables the selective control of single photo-chemical reactions. The SAPHIR^* chamber is housed in a specially constructed climate chamber to allow for precise regulation of the air temperature. SAPHIR^* offers ideal conditions for mechanistic studies of both formation of secondary organic aerosol as well as the atmospheric gas phase chemistry. The SAPHIR* chamber is in operation and experiments of oxidation of atmospheric hydrocarbons and the formation of secondary organic aerosol are on their way.