Physical and Chemical Characterization of Residential Oil Boiler Emissions

Abstract

The toxicity of emissions from the combustion of home heating oil coupled with the regional proximity and seasonal use of residential oil boilers (ROB) is an important public health concern. Yet scant physical and chemical information about the emissions from this source is available for climate and air quality modeling and for improving our understanding of aerosolrelated human health effects. The gas-and particle-phase emissions from an active ROB firing distillate fuel oil (commonly known as diesel fuel) were evaluated to address this deficiency. Ion chromatography of impactor samples showed that the ultrafine ROB aerosol emissions were ∼45% (w/w) sulfate. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry detected various n-alkanes at trace levels, sometimes in accumulation mode particles, and out of phase with the size distributions of aerosol mass and sulfate. The carbonaceous matter in the ROB aerosol was primarily light-adsorbing elemental carbon. Gas chromatography-atomic emission spectroscopy measured a previously unrecognized organosulfur compound group in the ROB aerosol emissions. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy of ROB soot indicated the presence of a highly ordered primary particle nanostructure embedded in larger aggregates. Organic gas emissions were measured using EPA Methods TO-15 and TO-11A. The ROB emitted volatile oxygenates (8 mg/(kg of oil burned)) and olefins (5 mg/(kg of oil burned)) mostly unrelated to the base fuel composition. In the final analysis, the ROB tested was a source of numerous hazardous air pollutants as defined in the Clean Air Act Amendments. Approximations conducted using emissions data from the ROB tests show relatively low contributions to a regionallevel anthropogenic emissions inventory for volitile organic compounds, PM 2.5 , and SO 2 mass.

Fingerprinting soot (towards source identification): Physical structure and chemical composition

“…Exhaustive details of the emissions testing and aerosol sample collection were provided in Hays et al (2008). Briefly, the flame retention-head burner (Beckett model AFG) was rated for up to 1.5 gallons/h of no.…”

Characteristics of marine shipping emissions at berth: profiles for particulate matter and volatile organic compounds

“…The main fuel types applied in ship main engines or auxiliary engines are residential oil, heavy fuel or intermediate fuel oil (Hays et al, 2008) as well as marine diesel oil. Low-grade heavy fuel oil (HFO), known as bunker oil or residual oil, which usually has a sulfur content over 0.5 % and contains metallic elements such as vanadium, nickel and copper, has been commonly used in marine engines and is responsible for high levels of PM and gaseous pollutants such as SO X (Agrawal et al, 2009).…”

Particle-phase concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air of rural residential areas in southern Germany

“…The modern gas and oil burners currently used for heating systems and hot water systems have relatively low PAH emissions (Hays et al 2008, 2009). Similarly, modern residential wood boilers, which are automatically fed and controlled, as well as modern pellet stoves with continuous fuel feeding create PM emissions that are formed mainly by the vaporisation of ash particles; consequently, they have lower PAH emissions than manually fed boilers and wood stoves (Johannson et al 2004; Tissari et al 2008).…”