AAAR 33rd Annual Conference
October 20 - October 24, 2014
Rosen Shingle Creek
Orlando, Florida, USA
Abstract View
Mass and Energy-Based Emission Factors and Gas-Particle Partitioning of Intermediate-Volatility and Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds from Laboratory Combustion of Boreal and Sub-Tropical Peat
LAXMI NARASIMHA YATAVELLI, L.-W. Antony Chen, Joseph Knue, Vera Samburova, Madhu Gyawali, Adam Watts, Rajan K. Chakrabarty, Hans Moosmuller, Xiaoliang Wang, Barbara Zielinska, Judith Chow, John Watson, Anna Tsibart, Desert Research Institute, Reno
Abstract Number: 597 Working Group: Carbonaceous Aerosols in the Atmosphere
Abstract Peatlands contain up to a third of the Earth’s terrestrial soil carbon, approximately equal to the mass of carbon in the atmosphere. Combustion of peatlands is believed to be a large source of gas and particulate matter (PM) emissions. The influence of climate change on fire frequency and intensity, and thus emissions, in peatlands is not fully understood. Warming and anthropogenic land-use changes may accelerate fire regimes in these ecosystems. To better characterize peat combustion emissions and evaluate their impacts on the atmosphere, series of burns were conducted in an 8 m3 combustion chamber at the Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV. Peats from Alaska and Florida (USA) and Siberia (Russia) were burned at two different fuel moisture levels. Real-time measurements included CO2, CO, NOx (NO and 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. To estimate mass- and energy-based emission factors, change in fuel mass and infrared energy emissions were continuously monitored during each burn.
Here, we will present mass and energy-based emission factors of inorganic gases, PM2.5 (aerodynamic diameter <2.5 μm) and black carbon mass concentrations, organic and elemental carbon, and a large number of intermediate-volatility (300