Emissions of parent, nitrated, and oxygenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from indoor corn straw burning in normal and controlled combustion conditions

Abstract

Emission factors (EFs) of parent polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (pPAHs), nitrated PAHs (nPAHs), and oxygenated PAHs (oPAHs) were measured for indoor corn straw burned in a brick cooking stove under different burning conditions. The EFs of total 28 pPAHs, 6 nPAHs and 4 oPAHs were (7.9 ± 3.4), (6.5 ± 1.6)×10-3, and (6.1 ± 1.4)×10-1 mg/kg, respectively. Fuel charge size had insignificant influence on the pollutant emissions. Measured EFs increased significantly in a fast burning due to the oxygen deficient atmosphere formed in the stove chamber. In both restricted and enhanced air supply conditions, the EFs of pPAHs, nPAHs and oPAHs were significantly higher than those measured in normal burning conditions. Though EFs varied among different burning conditions, the composition profiles and calculated isomer ratios were similar, without significant differences. The results from the stepwise regression model showed that fuel burning rate, air supply amount, and modified combustion efficiency were the three most significant influencing factors, explaining 72%-85% of the total variations. © 2013 The Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences.