AAAR 33rd Annual Conference
October 20 - October 24, 2014
Rosen Shingle Creek
Orlando, Florida, USA
Abstract View
Emissions from Burning Incense and Dung: Two Unregulated Sources of Brown Carbon in Asia
LAXMI NARASIMHA YATAVELLI, Rajan K. Chakrabarty, Joseph Knue, Madhu Gyawali, Guenter Engling, Hans Moosmuller, David Rhode, L.-W. Antony Chen, Xiaoliang Wang, Judith Chow, John Watson, Desert Research Institute, Reno
Abstract Number: 613 Working Group: Carbonaceous Aerosols in the Atmosphere
Abstract Emissions from residential cooking fires and cultural burning are unregulated and can be a large source of gases and carbonaceous particles in Asia. Incense and dung burning is wide spread in South and East Asia but there is limited information on emission factors of intermediate and semi-volatile organic compounds. These, primarily indoor, sources also pose significant health risks due to human exposure to toxic gases such as carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of nitrogen (NOx = NO + NO2) and particulate matter (PM) in high concentrations. There are very few systematic studies on estimating the regional impacts of incense and dung burning on air quality and climate. We will present inorganic and organic emissions from laboratory combustion of incense from India and dung from Tibetan Yak and Sheep. Burns were conducted in a 8 m3 combustion chamber at the Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV. A mixture of five different kinds of incense sticks was burned to simulate cultural burning in religious places. Dung burning was tested with two different stove types: a three-stone setup and a small, commercially available metal stove. Real-time measurements included CO2, CO, NO, NO2, and SO2 concentrations, PM size-distributions, PM and black carbon mass concentrations, and aerosol light-absorption and scattering coefficients. In addition, Teflon-membrane, quartz-fiber, and Teflon-impregnated glass fiber (TIGF) filters followed by XAD-4 cartridges were collected for detailed chemical analysis. Emissions of volatile, intermediate volatility, and semi-volatile organics (VOC, IVOC, and SVOC) will be presented in gas and particle-phases. Emission factors for chromophoric functional groups will be discussed along with inorganic gases, PM1, PM2.5, elements, and organic and elemental carbon fractions.