Measurement report: Chemical characteristics of PM<sub>2.5</sub> during typical biomass burning season at an agricultural site of the North China Plain

Abstract

Abstract. Biomass burning activities are ubiquitous in China, especially in northern China, where there is a large rural population and winter heating custom. Biomass burning tracers (i.e., levoglucosan, mannosan and potassium (K+)), as well as other chemical components, were quantified at a rural site (Gucheng, GC) in northern China from 15 October to 30 November, during a transition heating season, when the field burning of agricultural residue was becoming intense. The measured daily average concentrations of levoglucosan, mannosan and K+ in PM2.5 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters less than 2.5 µm) during this study were 0.79 ± 0.75, 0.03 ± 0.03 and 1.52 ± 0.62 µg m−3, respectively. Carbonaceous components and biomass burning tracers showed higher levels during nighttime than daytime, while secondary inorganic ions were enhanced during daytime. An episode with high levels of biomass burning tracers was encountered at the end of October 2016, with high levoglucosan at 4.37 µg m−3. Based on the comparison of chemical components during different biomass burning pollution periods, it appeared that biomass combustion can obviously elevate carbonaceous component levels, whereas there was essentially no effect on secondary inorganic aerosols in the ambient air. Moreover, the levoglucosan / mannosan ratios during different biomass burning pollution periods remained at high values (in the range of 18.3–24.9); however, the levoglucosan / K+ ratio was significantly elevated during the intensive biomass burning pollution period (1.67) when air temperatures were decreasing, which was substantially higher than in other biomass burning periods (averaged at 0.47).

Comparative Assessment of Cooking Emission Contributions to Urban Organic Aerosol Using Online Molecular Tracers and Aerosol Mass Spectrometry Measurements

“…Therefore, in areas where a significant cooking source is present, interference from BBOA is likely insignificant for COA quantification. Furthermore, at our study location, the campaign-average concentration of levoglucosan is 50 ng/m 3 , much lower than those measured in biomass burning influenced areas (e.g., 790 ng/m 3 during biomass burning season in North China Plain 62 ), and the f C2H4O2+ is around the background level, i.e., ∼0.3%, as reported by Cubison et al 63 This collective body of evidence indicates that BBOA contributed negligibly to the COA tracer ion (C 6 H 10 O + , m/z 98) identified in our study (Figure 5).…”

Biomass Burning Is a Non‐Negligible Source for Ammonium During Winter Haze Episodes in Rural North China: Evidence From High Time Resolution 15N‐Stable Isotope

“…(2019) evaluated the source contributions of ambient NH 3 from livestock breeding, fertilizer use, fossil fuel, and urban waste in Chinese Megacities. Biomass, a commonly used residential fuel in the NCP, can produce considerable amount of NH 3 under incomplete combustion conditions (Q. Li et al., 2016; Liang et al., 2021; H.‐W. Xiao et al., 2020).…”

“…Moreover, the emission inventory of NH 3 also included biomass burning emissions (Liao et al, 2022;Yu et al, 2020). However, related studies on 15 N isotopes for the source apportionment of NH 3 /NH 4 + generally overlooked the contribution of biomass burning, leading to biased NH 4 + source contribution, especially in the NCP winter with intensive biomass burning activities (Liang et al, 2021). This is the first study to analyze the dynamic sources of NH 4 + in three haze episodes in the NCP based on high time resolution δ 15 N-NH 4 + .…”

Aging impact on sources, volatility, and viscosity of organic aerosols in the Chinese outflows

“…BBOA in this study was possibly from (1) biofuel/biomass burning from domestic heating in the NCP (Duan et al, 2020;Huang et al, 2020;Elser et al, 2016); ( 2) The open biomass burning around observation site (Li et al, 2017a;Liang et al, 2021). It is indeed that biomass burning plumes from open fire burning were frequently seen during the campaign.…”