Brittany D. Busby1, Tony J. Ward2, Jay R. Turner3, Christopher P. Palmer 1

  • 1 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA
  • 2 Center for Environmental Health Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA
  • 3 Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63122, USA

Received: April 15, 2015
Revised: September 1, 2015
Accepted: October 14, 2015
Download Citation: ||https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2015.04.0235  

  • Download: PDF


Cite this article:
Busby, B.D., Ward, T.J., Turner, J.R. and Palmer, C.P. (2016). Comparison and Evaluation of Methods to Apportion Ambient PM2.5 to Residential Wood Heating in Fairbanks, AK. Aerosol Air Qual. Res. 16: 492-503. https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2015.04.0235


HIGHLIGHTS

  • A quantitative comparison of wood smoke source apportionment methods is presented.
  • Wood smoke apportionments via levoglucosan or 14C methods give consistent results.
  • The chemical mass balance approach overestimates wood smoke portion in Fairbanks.
  • Suggested ratios of wood smoke PM2.5 to levoglucosan range from 9 to 13.3.
  • New wood smoke PM2.5 to levoglucosan ratios are consistent with previous reports.

 

ABSTRACT


Biomass burning for residential heating significantly contributes to ambient PM2.5 burdens in many areas, making source apportionment to wood heater emissions an important issue. This study compares and evaluates Chemical Mass Balance (CMB), levoglucosan analysis, and 14C analysis methods for apportionment. Results suggest that the CMB method appears to overestimate the contribution of residential wood heating in Fairbanks, perhaps due to non-representativeness of emissions source profiles. Carbon-14 analysis allows for apportionment to biomass sources, but must be corrected for non-carbon PM2.5 content. Levoglucosan analysis has the advantage of being relatively inexpensive, but there is considerable uncertainty in determining conversion factors to calculate wood smoke levels from measured levoglucosan concentrations. Conversion factors in the range of 9.1 to 13.3 are calculated from previously published and experimental mass fractions of levoglucosan in wood smoke PM2.5. Conversion factors in the range of 10.7 to 12.9 are determined from analysis of independent field measurements of 14C and levoglucosan in Fairbanks. The calculated and measured conversion factors are consistent and are similar to previously-reported values. The three apportionment methods (focused on residential wood smoke contributions) are complementary and collectively provide a means to evaluate or confirm apportionment results.


Keywords: Wood smoke; Levoglucosan; Source apportionment; Chemical mass balance; Carbon-14


Share this article with your colleagues 

 

Subscribe to our Newsletter 

Aerosol and Air Quality Research has published over 2,000 peer-reviewed articles. Enter your email address to receive latest updates and research articles to your inbox every second week.

7.3
2022CiteScore
 
 
77st percentile
Powered by
Scopus
 
   SCImago Journal & Country Rank

2022 Impact Factor: 4.0
5-Year Impact Factor: 3.4

The Future Environment and Role of Multiple Air Pollutants

Aerosol and Air Quality Research partners with Publons

CLOCKSS system has permission to ingest, preserve, and serve this Archival Unit
CLOCKSS system has permission to ingest, preserve, and serve this Archival Unit

Aerosol and Air Quality Research (AAQR) is an independently-run non-profit journal that promotes submissions of high-quality research and strives to be one of the leading aerosol and air quality open-access journals in the world. We use cookies on this website to personalize content to improve your user experience and analyze our traffic. By using this site you agree to its use of cookies.