Field Measurement of Emission Factors of PM, EC, OC, Parent, Nitro-, and Oxy- Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons for Residential Briquette, Coal Cake, and Wood in Rural Shanxi, China

Abstract

Air pollutants from residential solid fuel combustion are attracting growing public concern. Field measured emission factors (EFs) of various air pollutants for solid fuels are close to the reality and urgently needed for better emission estimations. In this study, emission factors of particulate matter (PM), organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), and various polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from residential combustions of coal briquette, coal cake, and wood were measured in rural Heshun County, China. The measured EFs of PM, OC, and EC were 8.1–8.5, 2.2–3.6, 0.91–1.6 g/kg for the wood burnt in a simple metal stove, 0.54–0.64, 0.13–0.14, 0.040–0.0041 g/kg for the briquette burned in an improved stove with a chimney, and 3.2–8.5, 0.38–0.58, 0.022–0.052 g/kg for the homemade coal cake combusted in a brick stove with a flue, respectively. EFs of 28 parent PAHs, 4 oxygenated PAHs and 9 nitro-PAHs were 182–297, 7.8–10, 0.14–0.55 mg/kg for the wood, 14–16, 1.7–2.6, 0.64–0.83 mg/kg for the briquette, and 168–223, 4.7–9.5, 0.16–2.4 mg/kg for the coal cake, respectively. Emissions from the wood and coal cake combustions were much higher than those for the coal briquette, especially true for high molecular weight PAHs. Most EFs measured in the field were higher than those measured in stove combustions under laboratory conditions.

Measurements of emission factors of PM2.5, OC, EC, and BC for household stoves of coal combustion in China

“…As shown in Table S2, the present EF values are somewhat lower than previous measurement results by our group and Zhang et al (Chen et al, 2005(Chen et al, , 2006Zhang et al, 2008;Zhi et al, 2008) but higher than those by Shen et al (Shen et al, 2010). The main reason may point to the different selection of coal types and stove conditions, which suggests that much more measurements need to be conducted by considering all kinds of typical coal/stove combinations, especially those actually used in rural kitchens (Shen et al, 2013b). For example, the average EF EC of bituminous coal briquettes from XF stove is only 40% of those from SC stove (Table S1).…”

“…The parallel measurements of online Aethalometer monitor and filter-based TOR analysis provided an opportunity to look into the relationship between optical BC and thermal-optical EC, which are usually used exchangeably (Chen et al, 2005;Shen et al, 2013b) and to further check the attenuation cross-section (s) of converting the light attenuation into BC concentration of Aethalometer. As shown in Table 2 and Fig.…”

“…This inspired a number of studies on the measurements about emission factor (EF) of BC for coal combustion in household stoves in China in the last decade, which is important data for assessing its emission inventory (Bond et al, 2004a;Cao et al, 2006;Lei et al, 2011;Ohara et al, 2007;Streets et al, 2003Streets et al, , 2001Wang et al, 2012;Zhang et al, 2009). Those studies show variation up to several orders of magnitude of EFs of BC and other pollutants among different coal/stove combinations in China's household sector (Chen et al, 2005(Chen et al, , 2006Shen et al, 2013b;Shen et al, 2010;Zhang et al, 2000Zhang et al, , 2008Zhi et al, 2008).…”

“…Household stoves burning solid fuels (i.e., coal and biofuel) in China have been the subject of interest in recent years because they are important emission sources of various pollutants, including fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ), organic carbon (OC), black carbon (BC), greenhouse gases (GHGs), and toxic organic compounds such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), etc (Bond et al, 2004a;Lei et al, 2011;Ohara et al, 2007;Shen et al, 2013b;Streets et al, 2003;Wang et al, 2012;Zhang et al, 2009). Among these pollutants, BC is especially highlighted by governments and scientists for a variety of reasons (Bond et al, 2013).…”

Estimation of the direct and indirect impacts of fireworks on the physicochemical characteristics of atmospheric PM<sub>10</sub> and PM<sub>2.5</sub>

“…By scattering and absorbing incoming solar radiation and outgoing terrestrial radiation directly, or by acting as cloudcondensation nuclei and thereby influencing the optical properties of clouds indirectly, atmospheric aerosols can influence the radiation balance of the earth's atmosphere (Lin et al, 2013;Shen et al, 2013). Ambient PM is a complex mixture of components from a variety of sources, including those natural and anthropogenic (Zheng et al, 2005;Zhao et al, 2013a).…”