Residential wood burning in an Alpine valley as a source for oxygenated volatile organic compounds, hydrocarbons and organic acids

Gaeggeler, Kathrin; Prévôt, Andrê S. H.; Dommen, Josef; Legreid, Geir; Reimann, Stefan; Baltensperger, Urs

doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2008.07.038

Cited by 72 publications

(66 citation statements)

References 42 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…A recent study based on 14 C showed for an Alpine valley in winter that between 65% and 88% of carbonaceous matter of the ambient aerosol originate from non-fossil sources, most likely wood burning . Also many VOC and OVOC concentrations are very strongly influenced by wood burning emissions (Gaeggeler et al, 2008). Besides traffic and industrial emissions, biomass burning contributes significantly to the organic aerosol mass even in a modern city like Zurich (Lanz et al, 2008;Szidat et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of traffic and wood combustion on the stable isotopic composition of carbon monoxide

et al. 2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Carbon monoxide in the atmosphere is originating from various combustion and oxidation processes. Recently, the proportion of CO resulting from the combustion of wood for domestic heating may have increased due to political measures promoting this renewable energy source. Here, we used the stable isotope composition of CO (δ 13 C and δ 18 O) for the characterization of different CO sources in Switzerland, along with other indicators for traffic and wood combustion (NO x -concentration, aerosol light absorption at different wavelengths). We assessed diurnal variations of the isotopic composition of CO at 3 sites during winter: a village site dominated by domestic heating, a site close to a motorway and a rural site. The isotope ratios of wood combustion emissions were studied at a test facility, indicating significantly lower δ 18 O of CO from wood combustion compared to traffic emissions. At the village and the motorway site, we observed very pronounced diurnal δ 18 O-variations of CO with an amplitude of up to 8‰. Solving the isotope mass balance equation for three distinct sources (wood combustion, traffic, clean background air) resulted in diurnal patterns consistent with other indicators for wood burning and traffic. The average night-time contribution of wood-burning to total CO was 70% at the village site, 49% at the motorway site and 29% at the rural site based on the isotope mass balance. The results, however, depend strongly on the pure source isotope values, which are not very well known. We therefore additionally applied a combined CO/NO x -isotope model for verification. Here, we separated the CO emissions into different sources based on distinct CO/NO x emissions ratios for wood combustion and traffic, and inserted this information in the isotope mass balance equation. Accordingly, a highly significant agreement between measured and calculated δ 18 Ovalues of CO was found (r=0.67, p<0.001). While different Correspondence to: M. Saurer (matthias.saurer@psi.ch) proxies for wood combustion all have their uncertainties, our results indicate that the oxygen isotope ratio of CO (but not the carbon isotope ratio) is an independent sensitive tool for source attribution studies.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of traffic and wood combustion on the stable isotopic composition of carbon monoxide

et al. 2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A growing number of scientific studies have recently focused on the apportionment of biomass burning emissions in ambient aerosol (Zheng et al, 2002;Puxbaum et al, 2007;Gaeggeler et al, 2008;Caseiro et al, 2009). This primary source emits high amounts of organic aerosol (OA) and can largely contribute to the organic carbon (OC) mass of particulate matter (PM) in winter.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantification of levoglucosan and its isomers by High Performance Liquid Chromatography – Electrospray Ionization tandem Mass Spectrometry and its applications to atmospheric and soil samples

et al. 2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. The determination of atmospheric concentrations of levoglucosan and its two isomers, unambiguous tracers of biomass burning emissions, became even more important with the development of wood as renewable energy for domestic heating. Many researches demonstrated the increase during recent years of atmospheric particulate matter load due to domestic biomass combustion in developed countries. Analysis of biomass burning tracers is traditionally performed with Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) technique after derivatization and requires an organic solvent extraction. A simpler and faster technique using Liquid Chromatography -Electrospray Ionisation -tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS) was optimized for the analysis of levoglucosan, mannosan and galactosan isomers after an aqueous extraction. This technique allows a good separation between the three compounds in a very reduced time (runtime ∼5 min). LOD and LOQ of this method are 30 µg l −1 and 100 µg l −1 respectively, allowing the use of filters from low-volume sampler (as commonly used in routine campaigns). A comparison of simultaneous levoglucosan measurements by GC-MS and LC-ESI-MS/MS for about 50 samples coming from different types of sampling sites and seasons was realized and shows very good agreement between the two methods. Therefore LC-ESI-MS/MS method can be used as an alternative to GC-MS particularly for measurement campaigns in routine where analysis time is important and detection limit is reduced. This paper shows that this method is also applicable to other environmental sample types like soil.

show abstract

“…mites and lices). On the other hand, it is known that combustion of firewood generates a wide range of toxic and nontoxic substances (Gaeggeler et al, 2008). It can be understood that an extinguished fireplace respelling domestic fowls is an indication of toxicity.…”

Section: Free Range Chickens (Traditional Poultry)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Indigenous Knowledge and Bioindicators of Toxicity of Non-Timber Forest Products in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Vala¹

2014

MJSS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Residential wood burning in an Alpine valley as a source for oxygenated volatile organic compounds, hydrocarbons and organic acids

Cited by 72 publications

References 42 publications

The influence of traffic and wood combustion on the stable isotopic composition of carbon monoxide

The influence of traffic and wood combustion on the stable isotopic composition of carbon monoxide

Quantification of levoglucosan and its isomers by High Performance Liquid Chromatography – Electrospray Ionization tandem Mass Spectrometry and its applications to atmospheric and soil samples

Indigenous Knowledge and Bioindicators of Toxicity of Non-Timber Forest Products in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About