Characterization of biomass burning emissions from cooking fires, peat, crop residue, and other fuels with high-resolution proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Stockwell, Chelsea E.; Veres, P. R.; Williams, Jonathan; Yokelson, Robert J.

doi:10.5194/acp-15-845-2015

Cited by 311 publications

(575 citation statements)

References 114 publications

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“…Yokelson et al (2013) used results from multiple analytical techniques for assigning m/z peaks. Stockwell et al (2015) used a high mass resolution PTR-ToF-MS instrument for elemental composition determination and open-path FTIR data together with literature reports for mass spectral interpretation. In the case of multiple neutral precursors for a specific m/z signal, we considered only species with a relative contribution > 10 % to the total signal.…”

Section: Organic Gasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

In situ measurements and modeling of reactive trace gases in a small biomass burning plume

et al. 2016

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Abstract. An instrumented NASA P-3B aircraft was used for airborne sampling of trace gases in a plume that had emanated from a small forest understory fire in Georgia, USA. The plume was sampled at its origin to derive emission factors and followed ∼ 13.6 km downwind to observe chemical changes during the first hour of atmospheric aging. The P-3B payload included a proton-transfer-reaction timeof-flight mass spectrometer (PTR-ToF-MS), which measured non-methane organic gases (NMOGs) at unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution (10 m spatial / 0.1 s temporal). Quantitative emission data are reported for CO 2 , CO, NO, NO 2 , HONO, NH 3 , and 16 NMOGs (formaldehyde, methanol, acetonitrile, propene, acetaldehyde, formic acid, acetone plus its isomer propanal, acetic acid plus its isomer glycolaldehyde, furan, isoprene plus isomeric pentadienes and cyclopentene, methyl vinyl ketone plus its isomers crotonaldehyde and methacrolein, methylglyoxal, hydroxy acetone plus its isomers methyl acetate and propionic acid, benzene, 2,3-butanedione, and 2-furfural) with molar emission ratios relative to CO larger than 1 ppbV ppmV −1 . Formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, 2-furfural, and methanol dominated NMOG emissions. No NMOGs with more than 10 carbon atoms were observed at mixing ratios larger than 50 pptV ppmV −1 CO. Downwind plume chemistry was investigated using the observations and a 0-D photochemical box model simulation. The model was run on a nearly explicit chemical mechanism (MCM v3.3) and initialized with measured emission data. Ozone formation during the first hour of atmospheric aging was well captured by the model, with carbonyls (formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, 2,3-butanedione, methylglyoxal, 2-furfural) in addition to CO and CH 4 being the main drivers of peroxy radical chemistry. The model also accurately reproduced the sequestration of NO x into peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) and the OH-initiated degradation of furan and 2-furfural at an average OH concentration of 7.45 ± 1.07 × 10 6 cm −3 in the plume. Formaldehyde, acetone/propanal, acetic acid/glycolaldehyde, and maleic acid/maleic anhydride (tentatively identified) were found to be the main NMOGs to increase during 1 h of atmospheric plume processing, with the model being unable to capture the observed increase. A mass balance analysis suggests that about 50 % of the aerosol mass formed in the downwind plume is organic in nature.

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Section: Organic Gasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

In situ measurements and modeling of reactive trace gases in a small biomass burning plume

et al. 2016

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“…Many of these studies primarily focused on chemically characterizing gaseous emissions (Benner, 1977;Chen et al, 2007;Christian et al, 2003;Geron and Hays, 2013;May et al, 2014;McMahon et al, 1980;Ward, 1990;Hatch et al, 2015;Stockwell et al, 2015Stockwell et al, , 2014George et al, 2016;Black et al, 2016;Iinuma et al, 2007;Yokelson et al, 1997) while fewer focused on the PM fraction Fujii et al, 2014Fujii et al, , 2015aIinuma et al, 2007). Peatland fire emissions were not considered in the biomass burning emission inventory published by Andreae and Merlet (2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical characterization of fine particulate matter emitted by peat fires in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, during the 2015 El Niño

et al. 2018

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Abstract. Fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) was collected in situ from peat smoke during the 2015 El Niño peat fire episode in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Twenty-one PM samples were collected from 18 peat fire plumes that were primarily smoldering with modified combustion efficiency (MCE) values of 0.725-0.833. PM emissions were determined and chemically characterized for elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon (OC), water-soluble OC, water-soluble ions, metals, and organic species. Fuel-based PM 2.5 mass emission factors (EFs) ranged from 6.0 to 29.6 g kg −1 with an average of 17.3 ± 6.0 g kg −1 . EC was detected only in 15 plumes and comprised ∼ 1 % of PM mass. Together, OC (72 %), EC (1 %), water-soluble ions (1 %), and metal oxides (0.1 %) comprised 74 ± 11 % of gravimetrically measured PM mass. Assuming that the remaining mass is due to elements that form organic matter (OM; i.e., elements O, H, N) an OM-to-OC conversion factor of 1.26 was estimated by linear regression. Overall, chemical speciation revealed the following characteristics of peat-burning emissions: high OC mass fractions (72 %), primarily water-insoluble OC (84 ± 11 %C), low EC mass fractions (1 %), vanillic to syringic acid ratios of 1.9, and relatively high n-alkane contributions to OC (6.2 %C) with a carbon preference index of 1.2-1.6. Comparison to laboratory studies of peat combustion revealed similarities in the relative composition of PM but greater differences in the absolute EF values. The EFs developed herein, combined with estimates of the mass of peat burned, are used to estimate that 3.2-11 Tg of PM 2.5 was emitted to atmosphere during the 2015 El Niño peatland fire event in Indonesia. Combined with gas-phase measurements of CO 2 , CO, CH 4 , and volatile organic carbon from Stockwell et al. (2016), it is determined that OC and EC accounted for 2.1 and 0.04 % of total carbon emissions, respectively. These in situ EFs can be used to improve the accuracy of the representation of Indonesian peat burning in emission inventories and receptor-based models.

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“…(1) estimates total carbon. Based on many BB combustion sources measured in the past, the species CO 2 , CO, and CH 4 usually comprise 97-99% of the total carbon emissions (Akagi et al, 2011;Stockwell et al, 2015). Our estimate of total carbon in this paper includes these three species and all the rest of the C-containing emissions measured by the OP-FTIR and the PAXs.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…In addition, recognizing the presence of absorbing BrC in biomass burning plumes could alter the modeled contribution of biomass burning to net radiative forcing in a more positive direction. Finally, to investigate fuel chemistry impacts and due to their widespread global importance, we also measured EFs for fires in peat, dung, and rice straw and compared to field values reported by Stockwell et al (2015Stockwell et al ( , 2016aStockwell et al ( , 25 2016b). Our lab-based EFs for all three of these fuels were in good agreement with the field studies.…”

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confidence: 99%

Aerosol optical properties and trace gas emissions by PAX and OP-FTIR for laboratory-simulated western US wildfires during FIREX

Selimovic¹,

Yokelson²,

Warneke³

et al. 2017

Preprint

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Abstract. Western wildfires have a major impact on air quality in the US. In the fall of 2016, 107 test fires were burned in the large-scale combustion facility at the US Forest Service Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory as part of the Fire Influence on Regional and Global Environments Experiment (FIREX). Canopy, litter, duff, dead wood, and other fuel components were 15 burned in combinations that represented realistic fuel complexes for several important western US coniferous and chaparral ecosystems including Ponderosa Pine, Douglas Fir, Engelmann Spruce, Lodgepole Pine, Subalpine Fire, Chamise, and Manzanita In addition, dung, Indonesian peat, and individual coniferous ecosystem fuel components were burned stand-alone to investigate the effects of individual components (e.g. "duff") and fuel chemistry on emissions. The smoke emissions were characterized by a large suite of state-of-the-art instruments. In this study we report emission factor (EF, g compound emitted per 20 kg fuel burned) measurements in fresh smoke of a diverse suite of critically-important trace gases measured by open-path Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (OP-FTIR). We also report aerosol optical properties (absorption EF, single scattering albedo (SSA), and Ångström absorption exponent (AAE)) as well as black carbon (BC) EF measured by photoacoustic extinctiometers (PAX) at 870 and 401 nm. The average trace gas emissions were similar across the coniferous ecosystems tested and most of the variability observed in emissions could be attributed to differences in the consumption of components such as duff and litter, 25 rather than the dominant tree species. Chaparral fuels produced lower EF than mixed coniferous fuels for most trace gases except for NO x and acetylene. A careful comparison with available field measurements of wildfires confirms that several methods can be used to extract data representative of real wildfires from the FIREX lab fire data. This is especially valuable for species not yet measured in the field. For instance, the OP-FTIR data alone show that ammonia (1.65 g kg -1 ), acetic acid (2.44 g kg -1 ), nitrous acid (HONO, 0.61 g kg -1 ) and other trace gases such as glycolaldehyde and formic acid are significant emissions not 30 previously measured for US wildfires. The PAX measurements show that the ratio of brown carbon (BrC) absorption to BC absorption is strongly dependent on modified combustion efficiency (MCE) and that BrC absorption is most dominant for combustion of duff (AAE 7.13) and rotten wood (AAE 4.60): fuels that are consumed in greater amounts during wildfires than prescribed fires. Coupling our lab data with field data suggests that fresh wildfire smoke typically has an EF for BC near 0.1 g kg -1 ), an SSA of ~0.91 and an AAE of ~3.50, with the latter implying that about 86% of the aerosol absorption at 401 nm is due 35 to BrC.

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Characterization of biomass burning emissions from cooking fires, peat, crop residue, and other fuels with high-resolution proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Cited by 311 publications

References 114 publications

In situ measurements and modeling of reactive trace gases in a small biomass burning plume

In situ measurements and modeling of reactive trace gases in a small biomass burning plume

Chemical characterization of fine particulate matter emitted by peat fires in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, during the 2015 El Niño

Aerosol optical properties and trace gas emissions by PAX and OP-FTIR for laboratory-simulated western US wildfires during FIREX

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