Comparison and Evaluation of Methods to Apportion Ambient PM2.5 to Residential Wood Heating in Fairbanks, AK

Busby, Brittany Danielle; Ward, Tony; Turner, Jay R.; Palmer, Christopher P.

doi:10.4209/aaqr.2015.04.0235

Cited by 11 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 57 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Overall, under the investigated conditions, both concentration and isotopic composition at the sampling site are rather determined by mixing with fresh emissions than by chemical loss processes. This agrees well with the study by (Busby et al, 2016), which pointed out that levoglucosan is relatively stable during winter due to the low OH concentration.…”

Section: Photo-chemical Agingsupporting

confidence: 93%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Firewood residential heating – local versus regional influence on the aerosol burden

Betancourt¹,

Küppers²,

Sager³

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. We report the first-time use of the Lagrangian Particle Dispersion Model (LPDM) FLEXPART to simulate isotope ratios of the biomass burning tracer levoglucosan. Here, we combine the model results with observed levoglucosan concentrations and δ13C to assess the contribution of local vs. remote emissions from firewood domestic heating to the particulate matter sampled during the cold season at two measurements stations of the Environmental Agency of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. For the investigated samples, the simulations indicate that the largest part of the sampled aerosol is 1 to 2 days old, and thus originates from local to regional sources. Consequently, photo-chemical aging, also limited by low mean OH concentrations in the cold season, has a minor influence the observed levoglucosan concentration and δ13C. The retro plume ages agree well with those derived from observed δ13C, (the isotopic ages), demonstrating that the limitation of backwards calculations to seven days for this study doesn't introduce any significant bias. A linear regression analysis applied to the experimental levoglucosan δ13C vs. the inverse concentration confirms the young age of aerosol. The high variability in the observed δ13C implies that the local levoglucosan emissions are characterized by very different isotopic ratios in the range of −25.3 to −21.4 ‰. These values are in good agreement with previous studies on levoglucosan source specific isotopic composition in biomass burning aerosol. Comparison between measured and estimated levoglucosan concentrations suggest that emissions are underestimated by a factor of two on average. These findings demonstrate that the aerosol burden from home heating in residential areas is not of remote origin and thus it can be mitigated by reducing local emissions. In this work we show that combining Lagrangian modelling with isotope ratios is valuable to obtain additional insight in source apportionment. Error analysis shows that the largest source of uncertainty is limited information on isotope ratios of levoglucosan emissions. Based on the observed low extent of photochemical processing during cold season, levoglucosan can be used under similar conditions as a conservative tracer without introducing substantial bias.

show abstract

Section: Photo-chemical Agingsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…For the source apportionment of biomass burning aerosol, factor analyses, chemical mass balance and Lagrangian techniques are employed e.g. (Busby et al, 2016;Zheng et al, 2002). Chemical mass balance modelling, used levoglucosan as the specific non-reactive molecular marker of biomass burning in aerosol e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Firewood residential heating – local versus regional influence on the aerosol burden

Betancourt¹,

Küppers²,

Sager³

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Not only are the fractionation effects small, but also the ratio of the rare isotope to the abundant one is very low. Therefore, carbon isotope ratios 13 R = 13 C 12 C are given using the delta value: (Brand et al, 2010;Craig, 1957). The source-specific carbon isotope ratios of atmospheric trace organic components are introduced in the simulations considering the emission data for the investigated VOC (details in the following sections).…”

Section: Modelling Stable Carbon Isotopes With Flexpartmentioning

confidence: 99%

Firewood residential heating – local versus remote influence on the aerosol burden

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. We report the first-time use of the Lagrangian particle dispersion model (LPDM) FLEXPART to simulate isotope ratios of the biomass burning tracer levoglucosan. Here, we combine the model results with observed levoglucosan concentrations and δ13C to assess the contribution of local vs. remote emissions from firewood domestic heating to the particulate matter sampled during the cold season at two measurements stations of the Environmental Agency of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. For the investigated samples, the simulations indicate that the largest part of the sampled aerosol is 1 to 2 d old and thus originates from local to regional sources. Consequently, ageing, also limited by the reduced photochemical activity in the dark cold season, has a minor influence on the observed levoglucosan concentration and δ13C. The retro plume ages agree well with those derived from observed δ13C (the “isotopic” ages), demonstrating that the limitation of backwards calculations to 7 d for this study does not introduce any significant bias. A linear regression analysis applied to the experimental levoglucosan δ13C vs. the inverse concentration confirms the young age of aerosol. The high variability in the observed δ13C implies that the local levoglucosan emissions are characterized by different isotopic ratios in the range of −26.3 ‰ to −21.3 ‰. These values are in good agreement with previous studies on levoglucosan source-specific isotopic composition in biomass burning aerosol. Comparison between measured and estimated levoglucosan concentrations suggests that emissions are underestimated by a factor of 2 on average. These findings demonstrate that the aerosol burden from home heating in residential areas is not of remote origin. In this work we show that combining Lagrangian modelling with isotope ratios is valuable to obtain additional insight into source apportionment. Error analysis shows that the largest source of uncertainty is limited information on isotope ratios of levoglucosan emissions. Based on the observed low extent of photochemical processing during the cold season, levoglucosan can be used under similar conditions as a conservative tracer without introducing substantial bias.

show abstract

“…Some researches attempt to quantitatively apportion PM to biomass combustion using LG. Busby et al [33] compare methods to apportion PM 2.5 to residential wood smoke heating in Fairbanks, such as chemical mass balance, 14 C analysis, and LG analysis. However, beside the advantage of low analysis cost there is substantial uncertainty in determining conversion factors to calculate wood smoke levels from LG concentration measured.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methods for the determination of levoglucosan and other sugar anhydrides as biomass burning tracers in environmental samples – A review

Janoszka

Czaplicka

2018

J of Separation Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Nowadays, there is a great pressure on finding an alternative source of energy. One such source is biomass combustion. Biomass is any organic matter such as wood, crops, seaweed, and animal wastes that during combustion emits energy but also smoke and solid residue. Biomass burning tracers, such as levoglucosan, mannosan and galactosan, are sugar anhydrides produced during burning of biomass that contain cellulose and hemicellulose. Analysis of environmental samples for tracers is the source of information about the type of biofuel burned. In this article, a literature review of the preparation and determination of biomass burning tracers for environmental samples was presented. The review discusses the preparation of different samples (particulate matter, soils, sediments, biological samples), extraction, derivatization, and determination. Amongst determination methods the most popular was gas chromatography with mass spectrometry but other techniques were also used, such as high‐performance liquid chromatography with aerosol charge detection, capillary electrophoresis with pulsed amperometric detection, and ion chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection.

show abstract

Comparison and Evaluation of Methods to Apportion Ambient PM2.5 to Residential Wood Heating in Fairbanks, AK

Cited by 11 publications

References 57 publications

Firewood residential heating – local versus regional influence on the aerosol burden

Firewood residential heating – local versus regional influence on the aerosol burden

Firewood residential heating – local versus remote influence on the aerosol burden

Methods for the determination of levoglucosan and other sugar anhydrides as biomass burning tracers in environmental samples – A review

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About