AAAR 37th Annual Conference October 14 - October 18, 2019 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
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Effects of Fuel Moisture Content on Biomass Emissions from a Rocket-Elbow Cookstove
Lizette Van Zyl, Jessica Tryner, Kelsey Bilsback, Nicholas Good, Arsineh Hecobian, Amy P. Sullivan, Yong Zhou, Jennifer Peel, JOHN VOLCKENS, Colorado State University
Abstract Number: 342 Working Group: Biomass Combustion: Emissions, Chemistry, Air Quality, Climate, and Human Health
Abstract Exposure to air pollution from solid-fuel cookstoves is a leading risk factor for premature death; however, the effect of fuel moisture content on air pollutant emissions from solid-fuel cookstoves remains poorly constrained. The objective of this work was to characterize emissions from a rocket-elbow cookstove burning wood at three different moisture levels (5%, 15%, and 25% on a dry mass basis). Emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), methane, fine particulate matter (PM2.5), PM2.5 elemental carbon (EC), PM2.5 organic carbon, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes were measured. Emission factors (EFs; g·MJdelivered–1) for all pollutants, except CO2 and EC, increased with increasing fuel moisture content: CO EFs increased by 84%, PM2.5 EFs increased by 149%, formaldehyde EFs increased by 216%, and benzene EFs increased by 82%. Both modified combustion efficiency and the temperature at the combustion chamber exit decreased with increasing fuel moisture, suggesting that the energy required to vaporize water in the fuel led to lower temperatures in the combustion chamber and lower gas-phase oxidation rates. These results illustrate that changes in fuel equilibrium moisture content could cause EFs for pollutants such as PM2.5 to vary by a factor of two or more across different geographic regions.