Determination of Emission Factors of Pollutants From Biomass Burning of African Fuels in Laboratory Measurements

Biomass burning (BB) is a major source of pollutants that impact local, regional, and global climate, air quality, and public health. However, the influence of burning conditions and fuel type on the emission factors of pollutants is still not well understood. Here, we present the results from a laboratory study of emission factors (EFs) of pollutants from six different sub-Saharan African biomass fuels combusted under a wide range of burning conditions, ranging from smoldering to flaming. We found that particulate matter (PM) and carbon monoxide (CO) EFs (g (kg wood)(-1)) are highly sensitive to the burning conditions, with an order of magnitude variation between flaming and smoldering burning conditions. Nitric oxide (NO) EF shows a fuel type dependence, with higher NO EFs for fuels with larger nitrogen content. While CO is not generally a proxy for PM2.5 emissions, in this work a correlation was found between CO and PM emissions generated by combustion of seven wood fuels with moisture content (dry basis) <10% in a tube furnace and measured from a laboratory smog chamber with a temperature of similar to 21-24 degrees C and an RH below 5%. Unlike total PM, EFs of inorganic particle-phase species do not show dependence on burning conditions. Finally, we showed that burning biomass fuels in a tube furnace would be a useful experimental approach to study BB emission under controlled burning conditions.

Automated summary

Biomass burning is a significant source of pollutants affecting climate, air quality, and public health. The emission factors of particulate matter and carbon monoxide were found to be highly sensitive to burning conditions, while nitric oxide showed a dependence on fuel type. A correlation between CO and PM emissions was observed, suggesting the potential for controlled burning experiments in tube furnaces to study biomass burning emissions.