Fluorescence Microscopy Analysis of Particulate Matter from Biomass Burning: Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons as Main Contributors

Abstract

New efficient approaches to the characterization of fly ash and particulate matter (PM) have to be developed in order to better understand their impacts on environment and health. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) contained in PM from biomass burning have been identified as genotoxic and cytotoxic, and some tools already exist to quantify their contribution to PM. Optical fluorescence microscopy is proposed as a rapid and relatively economical method to allow the quantification of PAH in different particles emitted from biomass combustion. In this study samples were collected in the flue gas of biomasscombustion facilities with nominal output ranging from 40 kW to 17.3 MW. The fly ash samples were collected with various flue gas treatment devices (multicyclone, baghouse filter, electrostatic precipitator); PM samples were fractionated from the flue gas with a DEKATI Ò DGI impactor. A method using fluorescence observations (at 470 nm), white-light observations and image processing has been developed with the aim of quantifying fluorescence per sample. Organic components of PM and fly ash, such as PAH, humic-like substances (HULIS) and water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) were also quantified. Fluorescence microscopy analysis method assessment was first realized with fly ash that was artificially coated with PAH and HULIS. Total amounts of PAH in the three size fractions of actual PM from biomass burning strongly correlated with the intensities of fluorescence. These encouraging results contribute to the development of a faster and cheaper method of quantifying particle-bound PAH.

The characterization of long-range transported North American biomass burning plumes: what can a multi-wavelength Mie-Raman-polarization-fluorescence lidar provide?

“…According to laboratory studies, the main fluorophores in smoke are the humic-like substance and poly-aromatic hydrocarbons Garra et al (2015); Zhang et al (2019), which are common products of the combustion of biomass. During the aging process, the formation of some SOA could also contribute to the fluorescence signal (Lee et al, 2013).…”

Excitation–Emission Matrix Spectroscopy for Analysis of Chemical Composition of Combustion Generated Particulate Matter

“…New spectroscopy-based technologies are being developed to complement the conventional analysis techniques to determine the PM PAH content. [39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46] PAHs are good candidates for detection by spectroscopic techniques as they have high absorption coefficients and quantum yields. 47 The UV-visible electronic transitions in sp 2 carbon systems such as PAHs rely on π * -π transitions.…”

“…PAH analysis is performed via gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GCMS) and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LCMS); − both techniques are labor-intensive, require expensive equipment, and require several hours for analysis even after solvent extraction of target compounds from PM (∼$100/sample). Spectroscopy-based technologies are being developed to complement the conventional analysis techniques to estimate the PM organic carbon fraction and PAH content in a cost-effective manner. − PAHs are good candidates for detection by spectroscopic techniques as they have high absorption coefficients and quantum yields . The UV–visible electronic transitions in sp 2 carbon systems such as PAHs rely on π*−π transitions .…”

Characterization and in vitro biological effects of ambient air PM10 from a rural, an industrial and an urban site in Sulaimani City, Iraq

“…fossil fuels, wood or straw), motor vehicle emissions, waste incineration, cigarette smoke and many industrial activities (Abdel-Shafy and Mansour 2016; Tapanainen et al 2012). Most of the PAHs with low vapor pressure in the air can be adsorbed onto particles (for discussion, see (Garra et al 2015)), and they are typically products of incomplete combustion and are defined as soot precursors (Eberle, Gerlinger, and Aigner 2017), which explains why they are found in PM. The concentration of PAHs in road dust particles increases with decreasing particle size, because smaller particles have larger surface areas relative to their mass available for deposition of PAHs emitted from vehicular exhaust (Dong and Lee 2009).…”