Emission Characteristics for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons from Solid Fuels Burned in Domestic Stoves in Rural China

Abstract

Emission characterization of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from residential combustion of crop residues, woody material, coal, and biomass pellets in domestic stoves in rural China are compared in term of emission factors (EFs), influencing factors, composition profiles, isomer ratios and phase distributions. The EFs of PAHs vary by two orders of magnitude among fuel types suggesting that a detailed fuel categorization is useful in the development of an emission inventory and potential in emission abatement of PAHs by replacing dirty fuels with relatively cleaner ones. The influence of fuel moisture in biomass burning is non-linear. Biofuels with very low moisture display relatively high emissions as do fuels with very high moisture. Bituminous coals and brushwood yield relatively large fractions of high molecular PAHs. The emission factor of Benzo(a)pyrene equivalent quantity for raw bituminous coal is as high as 52 mg/kg, which is 1–2 orders of magnitude higher than the other fuels. For source diagnosis, high molecular weight isomers are more informative than low molecular weight ones and multiple ratios could be used together whenever possible.

Influence of different types of coals and stoves on the emissions of parent and oxygenated PAHs from residential coal combustion in China

“…The factors, which can affect the coal combustion, can also influence the emissions of pPAHs and oPAHs, including different coal properties, coal shapes, stove types, and air supply (Shen et al, 2013a).…”

“…Chen et al (Chen et al, 2005) studied the impact of geological maturity to the emission factors (EFs) of PAHs from coal combustion and found that the combustion of bituminous coal with vitrinite reflectance (R O , a measure of the geological maturity of coal) around 0.9% produced the highest EFs of particulate matter, elemental carbon, organic carbon, and PAHs. Shen et al (Shen et al, 2013a) studied the influence of volatile matter (VM) content on the emissions of PAHs and found that medium volatile bituminous coal emitted relatively large quantities of PAHs in comparison with low and high volatile bituminous coals. Meanwhile, the studies of Simoneit (Simoneit, 2002) and Shen et al (Shen et al, 2013a) suggested that the fast burning of low moisture biomass fuel forms an oxygen deficient atmosphere yielding high pollutant emissions, whereas the burning of high moisture fuel requires extra energy to vaporize water reducing combustion temperature and efficiency, and hence increased emissions of incomplete combustion products, such as PAHs and their derivatives.…”

“…Shen et al (Shen et al, 2013a) studied the influence of volatile matter (VM) content on the emissions of PAHs and found that medium volatile bituminous coal emitted relatively large quantities of PAHs in comparison with low and high volatile bituminous coals. Meanwhile, the studies of Simoneit (Simoneit, 2002) and Shen et al (Shen et al, 2013a) suggested that the fast burning of low moisture biomass fuel forms an oxygen deficient atmosphere yielding high pollutant emissions, whereas the burning of high moisture fuel requires extra energy to vaporize water reducing combustion temperature and efficiency, and hence increased emissions of incomplete combustion products, such as PAHs and their derivatives. However, the mechanism of the effects of coal properties on the production and emission of PAHs are still not well understood.…”

Characteristics of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in agricultural soils at a typical coke production base in Shanxi, China

“…The results of RET and COR detection in soil samples indicated that fuel combustion and vehicle emissions contributed considerably to PAHs in the soil (Appendix A4). PAH isomer ratios and principal component analysis (PCA) are both widely used in PAH source apportionment (Dai et al, 2008;Liu et al, 2012;Shen et al, 2013a). A detailed discussion was provided in the appendix (A4).…”

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their nitrated derivatives associated with PM10 from Kraków city during heating season

“…In Katowice the mean concentrations were equal to 1.7 and 2.6 ng·m -3 , and in Sosnowiec -1.8 and 2.4 ng·m -3 , respectively. In Kraków, during the heating season PAHs and NPAHs, especially chrysene, benzo[a]pyrene or 9-nitroanthracene, are mainly emitted during the combustion of coal, wastes or biomass in domestic stoves [18,19]. Traffic-related pollutions are another factor which influence the increase of these organic compounds amount.…”