The use of levoglucosan to assess the environmental impact of residential wood-burning on air quality

Thesis/Dissertation · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:7069111

Locker, H B

Levoglucosan, a product of the incomplete combustion of cellulose, is present in relatively high concentrations in the particle matter generated from wood-burning stoves. This fact has been exploited to develop a source apportionment method whereby measurements of levoglucosan in ambient air may be used to estimate the contribution of residential wood-burning activities to the Total Suspended Particulate (TSP) and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations. Analysis of the emissions from wood-burning stoves, both in controlled laboratory burns and from stoves as actually operated in the field, indicates that the percentage of levoglucosan on wood smoke particles is relatively insensitive to burn rate and operating conditions. For a representative group of stoves operated in the home under actual operating conditions, they found that typical wood smoke particles contain 4.6 ({plus minus} 1.7) percent w/w levoglucosan. The average PAH contribution to wood smoke particulate composition was also determined for the field operated stoves and results were used for source assessment of ambient PAH. This application to PAH estimates is complicated by the fact that PAH emissions are sensitive to stove operating conditions. Under controlled laboratory dilution tunnel conditions it was demonstrated that the PAH emission factor from wood-burning stoves increased with increasing burn rate. Application of their source assessment method to the winter-time ambient Hanover, NH airshed indicates that up to 60 ({plus minus} 21)% of the ambient TSP and 70 ({plus minus} 25)% of the PAH may be attributed to wood-burning activities. Given the current concern regarding the contribution of wood-burning to air quality, it should be noted that this analytical scheme provides a rapid and convenient method of determining the environmental impact of residential wood combustion.

• Research Organization: Dartmouth Coll., Hanover, NH (USA)
• OSTI ID: 7069111
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
095000 -- Biomass Fuels-- Environmental Aspects-- (1990-)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
AIR POLLUTION
AIR QUALITY
APPLIANCES
AROMATICS
COMBUSTION PRODUCTS
DATA
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
HYDROCARBONS
INFORMATION
NUMERICAL DATA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PARTICLES
PARTICULATES
POLLUTION
POLLUTION SOURCES
POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
TOTAL SUSPENDED PARTICULATES
WOOD BURNING APPLIANCES