Does chronic nitrogen deposition during biomass growth affect atmospheric emissions from biomass burning?

Abstract

Chronic nitrogen deposition has measureable impacts on soil and plant health. We investigate burning emissions from biomass grown in areas of high and low NOx deposition. Gas and aerosol-phase emissions were measured as a function of photochemical aging in an environmental chamber at UC-Riverside. Though aerosol chemical speciation was not available, results indicate a systemic compositional difference between biomass grown in high and low deposition areas. Aerosol emissions from biomass grown in areas of high NOx deposition exhibit a lower volatility than biomass grown in a low deposition area. Furthermore, fuel elemental analysis, NOx emission rates, and aerosol particle number distributions differed significantly between the two sites. Despite the limited scale of fuels explored, there is strong evidence that the atmospheric emissions community must pay attention to the regional air quality of biomass fuels growth areas.