The tropical forest and fire emissions experiment: Trace gases emitted by smoldering logs and dung from deforestation and pasture fires in Brazil

Abstract

[1] Earlier work showed that Amazonian biomass burning produces both lofted and initially unlofted emissions in large amounts. A mobile, Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) measured the unlofted emissions of 17 trace gases from residual smoldering combustion (RSC) of logs as part of the Tropical Forest and Fire Emissions Experiment (TROFFEE) during the 2004 Amazonian dry season. The RSC emissions were highly variable and the few earlier RSC measurements lay near the high end of combustion efficiency observed in this study. Fuel consumption by RSC was $5% of total for a planned deforestation fire. Much regional RSC probably occurs in the residual woody debris burned during pasture maintenance fires. RSC could increase estimated total fire emissions for the Amazon region by 20-50% for several important VOC. FTIR emissions measurements of burning dung (in a pasture) showed high emission ratios for acetic acid and ammonia to CO (6.6 ± 3.4% and 8.9 ± 2.1%). Large emissions of nitrogen containing trace gases from burning dung and crop waste could mean that biomass burning in India produces more particle mass than previously assumed. Measurements of late-stage kiln emissions suggested that VOC/CO may increase as carbonization is extended. A cook stove emitted many VOC and NH 3 far outside the range observed for open wood cooking fires. Enclosed/vented cooking stoves may change the chemistry of the smoke that is emitted.

Trace gas and particle emissions from domestic and industrial biofuel use and garbage burning in central Mexico

“…Some notes about the studies included in Fig. 2 Brocard et al (1996) EFCH 4 lower, but these data are consistent with a tendency toward greater variability as the relative amount of smoldering emissions increases in biomass burning fires (Christian et al, 2007;Yokelson et al, 2008). Particle EF also vary substantially as seen in Fig.…”

“…2, Christian et al, 2007). It is rugged, easily transported, optionally self-powered, and can be wheeled to remote sampling sites.…”

“…For CO 2 , CO, and CH 4 , the uncertainties were 3-5%. More complete descriptions of the system and spectral analyses are given in Christian et al (2007). After the campaign we checked for changes in analyte concentrations that might occur during the one-minute storage period in the FTIR cell due to adsorption or other reasons .…”

“…Indoor air pollution is believed to be one of the major risk factors for pneumonia, which is the largest single cause of mortality globally in children under five (Smith et al, 2004;Dherani et al, 2008). It is also of interest that reactions on the chimney surface could modify the emissions (Christian et al, 2007). The chimney does not eliminate all the indoor pollutants because the fire box has an open front that can leak emissions into the room.…”

Airborne observations of trace gases over boreal Canada during BORTAS: campaign climatology, air mass analysis and enhancement ratios

“…While an EF is the mass of the species emitted for every kg of dry biomass burnt, it is usually calculated using the carbon mass balance technique (Andreae and Merlet, 2001;Christian et al, 2007;Simpson et al, 2011;Akagi et al, 2012). This is based on the assumption that all combusted carbon (C) is measured in the plume.…”