Identification and estimation of the biomass burning contribution to Beijing aerosol using levoglucosan as a molecular marker

Zhang, Ting; Claeys, Magda; Cachier, H.; Dong, Shuli; Wang, Wan; Maenhaut, Willy; Liu, Xiande

doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2008.04.050

Cited by 190 publications

(132 citation statements)

References 27 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

115

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The ratio of levoglucosan to OC (LG / OC) in aerosol could be used to indicate biomass-burning source contributions (e.g. Andreae and Merlet, 2001;Zhang et al, 2008). From the data given in Table 1 of Andreae and Merlet (2001), the calculated LG / OC mass percent ratios ranged from 8.0 to 8.2 % (av.…”

Section: Contributions Of Biomass/biofuel Burning To Oc and Pm Massmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contributions of biomass/biofuel burning to organic aerosols and particulate matter in Tanzania, East Africa, based on analyses of ionic species, organic and elemental carbon, levoglucosan and mannosan

2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Atmospheric aerosol samples of PM 2.5 and PM 10 were collected at a rural site in Tanzania, East Africa, in 2011 during wet and dry seasons and were analysed for carbonaceous components, levoglucosan, mannosan and watersoluble inorganic ions. The contributions of biomass/biofuel burning to the organic carbon (OC) and particulate matter (PM) mass were estimated to be 46-52 % and 8-13 %, respectively. The mean mass concentrations of PM 2.5 and PM 10 were 28 ± 6 µg m −3 and 47 ± 8 µg m −3 in wet season, and 39 ± 10 µg m −3 and 61 ± 19µg m −3 in dry season, respectively. Total carbon (TC) accounted for 16-19 % of the PM 2.5 mass and 13-15 % of the PM 10 mass. On average, 86 to 89 % of TC in PM 2.5 and 87 to 90 % of TC in PM 10 was OC, of which 67-72 % and 63 % was found to be water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) in PM 2.5 and PM 10 , respectively. We found that concentrations of levoglucosan and mannosan (specific organic tracers of pyrolysis of cellulose) well correlated with non-sea-salt potassium (nss-K + ) (r 2 = 0.56-0.75), OC (r 2 = 0.75-0.96) and WSOC (r 2 = 0.52-0.78). The K + / OC ratios varied from 0.06 to 0.36 in PM 2.5 and from 0.03 to 0.36 in PM 10 with slightly higher ratios in dry season. Mean percent ratios of levoglucosan and mannosan to OC were found to be 3-4 % for PM 2.5 and PM 10 in both seasons. We found lower levoglucosan / K + ratios and higher K + / EC (elemental carbon) ratios in the biomass-burning aerosols from Tanzania than those reported from other regions. This feature is consistent with the high levels of potassium reported in the soils of Morogoro, Tanzania, suggesting an importance of direct emission of potassium by soil resuspension although K + is present mostly in fine particles. It is also likely that biomass burning of vegetation of Tanzania emits high levels of potassium that may be enriched in plant tissues. The present study demonstrates that emissions from mixed biomass-and biofuel-burning activities largely influence the air quality in Tanzania.

show abstract

Section: Contributions Of Biomass/biofuel Burning To Oc and Pm Massmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contributions of biomass/biofuel burning to organic aerosols and particulate matter in Tanzania, East Africa, based on analyses of ionic species, organic and elemental carbon, levoglucosan and mannosan

2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Possible reasons may be the unfavorable weather conditions for the formation of fine nitrate and the significant sampling artifacts of nitrate in summer. The strong correlation of WSOC with K + in spring (r = 0.8935) and winter (r = 0.8654) suggested the contribution of biomass burning in the two seasons, since K + has been widely used as a source tracer of biomass burning and has been applied in several source appointment studies (Cheng et al, 2015;Duan et al, 2004;Sun et al, 2010;Zhang et al, 2008). Our findings were also supported by the study of Zhang et al (2008), who found significant contribution of biomass burning in October, November and May using another better indicator levoglucosan.…”

Section: Soc Estimation and Correlation Of Wsoc And Socmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The strong correlation of WSOC with K + in spring (r = 0.8935) and winter (r = 0.8654) suggested the contribution of biomass burning in the two seasons, since K + has been widely used as a source tracer of biomass burning and has been applied in several source appointment studies (Cheng et al, 2015;Duan et al, 2004;Sun et al, 2010;Zhang et al, 2008). Our findings were also supported by the study of Zhang et al (2008), who found significant contribution of biomass burning in October, November and May using another better indicator levoglucosan. Straw that was leftover on the field of the previous year were usually burned in spring (Duan et al, 2004) and agricultural waste and fallen leaves were usually combusted in late fall (Zheng et al, 2005).…”

Section: Soc Estimation and Correlation Of Wsoc And Socmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) and its temperature-resolved carbon fractions in atmospheric aerosols in Beijing

Tang

Zhang

Wang

et al. 2016

Atmospheric Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Several biomass burning emission inventories have been developed more recently based on satellite burnt area observations (van der Werf et al, 2006(van der Werf et al, , 2010Song et al, 2010). However, these inventories either underestimate or entirely exclude the contribution from in-field crop residue burning, which has been shown to be an important seasonal biomass burning source of carbonaceous aerosols in China (Yang et al, 2008;T. Zhang et al, 2008;Huang et al, 2012).…”

Section: Bottom-up Emission Inventories Of Ec Oc and Voc Precursorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbonaceous aerosols in China: top-down constraints on primary sources and estimation of secondary contribution

et al. 2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. We simulated elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC) aerosols in China and compared model results to surface measurements at Chinese rural and background sites, with the goal of deriving "top-down" emission estimates of EC and OC, as well as better quantifying the secondary sources of OC. We included in the model state-of-the-science Chinese "bottom-up" emission inventories for EC (1.92 TgC yr −1 ) and OC (3.95 TgC yr −1 ), as well as updated secondary OC formation pathways. The average simulated annual mean EC concentration at rural and background sites was 1.1 µgC m −3 , 56 % lower than the observed 2.5 µgC m −3 . The average simulated annual mean OC concentration at rural and background sites was 3.4 µgC m −3 , 76 % lower than the observed 14 µgC m −3 . Multiple regression to fit surface monthly mean EC observations at rural and background sites yielded the best estimate of Chinese EC source of 3.05 ± 0.78 TgC yr −1 . Based on the topdown EC emission estimate and observed seasonal primary OC/EC ratios, we estimated Chinese OC emissions to be 6.67 ± 1.30 TgC yr −1 . Using these top-down estimates, the simulated average annual mean EC concentration at rural and background sites was significantly improved to 1.9 µgC m −3 . However, the model still significantly underestimated observed OC in all seasons (simulated average annual mean OC at rural and background sites was 5.4 µgC m −3 ), with little skill in capturing the spatiotemporal variability. Secondary formation accounts for 21 % of Chinese annual mean surface OC in the model, with isoprene being the most important precursor. In summer, as high as 62 % of the observed surface OC may be due to secondary formation in eastern China. Our analysis points to four shortcomings in the current bottom-up inventories of Chinese carbonaceous aerosols: (1) the anthropogenic source is underestimated on a national scale, particularly for OC; (2) the spatiotemporal distributions of emissions are misrepresented; (3) there is a missing source in western China, likely associated with the use of biofuels or other low-quality fuels for heating; and (4) sources in fall are not well represented, either because the seasonal shifting of Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. T.-M. Fu et al.: Carbonaceous aerosols in Chinaemissions and/or secondary formation are poorly captured or because specific fall emission events are missing. In addition, secondary production of OC in China is severely underestimated. More regional measurements with better spatiotemporal coverage are needed to resolve these shortcomings.

show abstract

Identification and estimation of the biomass burning contribution to Beijing aerosol using levoglucosan as a molecular marker

Cited by 190 publications

References 27 publications

Contributions of biomass/biofuel burning to organic aerosols and particulate matter in Tanzania, East Africa, based on analyses of ionic species, organic and elemental carbon, levoglucosan and mannosan

Contributions of biomass/biofuel burning to organic aerosols and particulate matter in Tanzania, East Africa, based on analyses of ionic species, organic and elemental carbon, levoglucosan and mannosan

Water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) and its temperature-resolved carbon fractions in atmospheric aerosols in Beijing

Carbonaceous aerosols in China: top-down constraints on primary sources and estimation of secondary contribution

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About