Emission of Carbonaceous Species from Biomass Burning in the Traditional Rural Cooking Stove in Bangladesh

Abstract

Characterization of carbonaceous species from the particulate matters (PM) after combustion of seven commonly used biomass species, albizia tree (Albizia julibrissin), dry leaves (mahogany tree), jackfruit tree (Artocarpus heterophyllus), rain tree (Samanea saman), mahogany tree (Swietenia mahogany), cow dung and mango tree (Mangifer aindica) was done. PM samples were collected on quartz fiber filters emitted from biomass burning in a typical rural cooking stove. PM loaded filters were characterized with scanning electron microscope (SEM) for surface morphology, fourier transform infrared (FTIR) to determine the functional group of organic compounds. Black carbon (BC) and brown carbon (BrC) concentrations were determined with Aethalometer. A TOC analyzer was used to determine the total organic carbon (TOC) present in the biomass samples. The surface morphology was almost similar for all biomass burning PM samples. The average concentrations of BC and BrC were 5.85 ± 4.40 and 13.0 ± 8.80 μg•m −3 , respectively. The emission factors of BC and BrC were 1.08 ± 0.89 and 2.35 ± 1.67 mg•g −1 , respectively. Concentration of BC was the highest in dry leaves and the lowest in mango tree. The emission factors of the determined biomass followed the sequence-dry leaves of mahogany > albizia tree > jackfruit tree > rain tree > cow dung > mahogany tree > mango tree. PM from mango tree had lower emissions compared to the other biomass species used in this study.

Wintertime Air Quality in Megacity Dhaka, Bangladesh Strongly Affected by Influx of Black Carbon Aerosols from Regional Biomass Burning

“…The average BC concentration during the campaign was 13 ± 6 μg m –3 , which is among the highest in the world . Even so, it is somewhat lower compared to previous measurements in the same area , but higher than what is observed at an IGP receptor site (4.6 ± 3.9 μg m –3 ) north of the Bay of Bengal . A reason for the lower values reported in this study compared to earlier studies for Dhaka may be that the present measurements were conducted in fine-mode aerosols, while previous measurements were in total suspended particulate matter.…”

Mie Scattering Captures Observed Optical Properties of Ambient Biomass Burning Plumes Assuming Uniform Black, Brown, and Organic Carbon Mixtures

“…The BrC effect may have some direct radiative climate‐related significance in geographically limited regions where the biomass burning is steady, like in regions where wooden stoves are used daily for cooking or heating purposes (Ahmed et al, ; Feng et al, ). The cooling/warming regime may also change by considering the semidirect and indirect aerosol effects (e.g., Jacobson, ), which are not considered in this study.…”

Emission of water soluble brown carbon from different combustion sources: optical properties and functional group characterisation

“…Before the burning, all the biomasses were cut into small pieces and dried on the roof of the Mukarram Hussain Khundaker Science Building, Dhaka University. All the sampling was done in the Environmental and Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratory, at Dhaka University, Bangladesh, according to the previous report (Ahmed et al 2018, Pavel et al 2023. The experimental procedure is given below (figure 1).…”

“…However, our study identified the optical characteristics of the dust that mosquito coils release. Around 70% of the people of Bangladesh live in the village and they use biomasses as fuel for their cooking purposes and unwillingly produce large amounts of BrC and BC particles in the ambient atmosphere (Ahmed et al 2018). These particles absorb light and increase the temperature of the atmosphere.…”