Air pollutants from residential solid fuel combustion are attracting growing public concern. Field measured emission factors (EFs) of various air pollutants for solid fuels are close to the reality and urgently needed for better emission estimations. In this study, emission factors of particulate matter (PM), organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), and various polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from residential combustions of coal briquette, coal cake, and wood were measured in rural Heshun County, China. The measured EFs of PM, OC, and EC were 8.1–8.5, 2.2–3.6, 0.91–1.6 g/kg for the wood burnt in a simple metal stove, 0.54–0.64, 0.13–0.14, 0.040–0.0041 g/kg for the briquette burned in an improved stove with a chimney, and 3.2–8.5, 0.38–0.58, 0.022–0.052 g/kg for the homemade coal cake combusted in a brick stove with a flue, respectively. EFs of 28 parent PAHs, 4 oxygenated PAHs and 9 nitro-PAHs were 182–297, 7.8–10, 0.14–0.55 mg/kg for the wood, 14–16, 1.7–2.6, 0.64–0.83 mg/kg for the briquette, and 168–223, 4.7–9.5, 0.16–2.4 mg/kg for the coal cake, respectively. Emissions from the wood and coal cake combustions were much higher than those for the coal briquette, especially true for high molecular weight PAHs. Most EFs measured in the field were higher than those measured in stove combustions under laboratory conditions.
