Pollutant Emissions from Improved Coal- and Wood-Fuelled Cookstoves in Rural Households

Residential solid fuel combustion is a major source of many pollutants, resulting in significant impacts on air quality and human health. Improved stoves, especially some modern gasifier biomass models, are being deployed to alleviate household and ambient air pollution. Pollutant emissions from coal burning in improved metal stoves (n = 11) and wood combustion in modern gasifier stoves (n = 8) were measured in field in Hubei, China. The emissions of CO, TSP, OC, EC, and PAHs from coal burning in the improved iron stoves were generally lower than previously reported results for coal in traditional stoves. For pollutants from wood combustion in the gasifier stoves, the emissions were less than literature-reported values for wood burned in traditional stoves, comparable to those in improved stoves, but appeared to be higher than those for pellets in gasifier stoves in laboratory tests. The limitations of scarce data and large variances result in statistical insignificance. Daily emissions of targeted pollutants per household were found to be higher for wood burners, compared with households relying on coal. The gasifier stove had relatively high thermal efficiencies, but emissions of most air pollutants per delivered energy were not significantly different from those from the coal burning in improved iron stoves. Moreover, higher emissions of OC, EC, and PAHs were observed, indicating that caution and additional testing will be needed while designing future clean cookstove intervention programs.