The Influence of Fuelbed Physical Properties on Biomass Burning Emissions

Abstract:

Emissions from biomass fires can significantly degrade regional air quality and therefore are of major concern to air regulators and land managers in the U.S. and Canada. Accurately estimating emissions from different fire types in various ecosystems is crucial to predicting and mitigating the impact of fires on air quality. The physical properties of ecosystems’ fuelbeds can heavily influence the combustion processes (e.g. flaming or smoldering) and the resultant emissions. However, despite recent progress in characterizing the composition of biomass smoke, significant knowledge gaps remain regarding the linkage between basic fuelbed physical properties and emissions. In laboratory experiments we examined the effects of fuelbed properties on combustion efficiency (CE) and emissions for an important fuel component of temperate and boreal forests – conifer needles. The bulk density (BD), depth (DZ), and moisture content (MC) of Ponderosa Pine needle fuelbeds were manipulated in 75 burns for which gas and particle emissions were measured. We found CE was negatively correlated with BD, DZ and MC and that the emission factors of species associated with smoldering combustion processes (CO, CH₄, particles) were positively correlated with these fuelbed properties. The study indicates the physical properties of conifer needle fuelbeds have a significant effect on CE and hence emissions. However, many of the emission models used to predict and manage smoke impacts on air quality assume conifer litter burns by flaming combustion with a high CE and correspondingly low emissions of CO, CH₄, particles, and organic compounds. Our results suggest emission models underestimate emissions from fires involving a large component of conifer needles. Additionally, our findings indicate that laboratory studies of emissions should carefully control fuelbed physical properties to avoid confounding effects that may obscure the effects being tested and lead to erroneous interpretations.