Size and chemical characteristics of particles emitted from typical rural biomass cookstoves in North China

The emission characteristics of biomass combustion in rural household stoves were measured in northern China. The Electrical Low-Pressure Impactor plus (ELPI+) was used to collect the emitted particles in the size range of 0.006-9.890 mu m. The particle number concentration (PNC), particle mass concentration (PMC), and size distribution characteristics of organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), and water-soluble ions were analyzed. The experimental results showed that the PNC peaked at 0.006-0.030 mu m, and the PMC peaked at 0.257-0.603 mu m. The mass concentration of OC and EC exhibited a bell-shaped size distribution in the 0-10 mu m range. The OC content of particles reached its peak at 0.006-0.016 mu m and ranged from 25% to 38%. The mass concentration and percentage of K+ and Cl- showed bell-shaped size distribution characteristics and the contents of K+ and Cl- in each particle size group were significantly correlated. The chemical source profiles of PM0.1, PM1, PM2.5, and PM10 were constructed, whose main components were OC, EC, K+, and Cl-. PM2.5 profile included 8.39-20.27% OC, 1.94-20.96% EC, 0.25-13.36% K+, and 0.36-16.97% Cl-.

Automated summary

The emission characteristics of biomass combustion in rural household stoves in northern China were studied. The results showed that particle number concentration (PNC) and particle mass concentration (PMC) peaked at specific size ranges, and the mass concentrations of OC and EC exhibited a bell-shaped distribution.