Formation of secondary aerosols from biomass burning plumes: chamber simulation study

Abstract:

Biomass burning contributed substantially to carbonaceous aerosols in China’s ambient air, even in its highly industrialized megacities, based on recent source attributions by receptor modeling or by molecular and isotopic tracers. Although chemical evolution of biomass burning plumes in the ambient is a vital issue for the study of climatic and health effects, the understanding of secondary pollutants formation during the aging of biomass burning plumes is far from complete. Here we collected typical agriculture residues and forest plant branches in the Pearl River Delta in south China, and got them burned in laboratory-controlled conditions and introduced the plumes from burning these biomass directly into the GIGCAS indoor smog chamber with a reactor of 30 m³ to investigate the photochemical aging of the plumes. The inorganic trace gases, including SO₂, NO_x, NH₃ and O₃, were monitored online with chemiluminescence gas analyzers, precursor volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were monitor online with a PTR-ToF-MS and offline by a preconcentrator coupled with a gas chromatography–mass selective detector/flame ionization detector/electron capture detector (GC-MSD/FID/ECD), particle number concentrations and size distributions were obtained using a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS), and a high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-TOF-AMS) was used to measure the chemical compositions and evolutions of submicron aerosols and to trace the change in the average element ratios of organics, like H/C, O/C, and N/C. The results from the study were summarized in the following aspects: 1) primary emission factors of gaseous and particulate pollutants from burning of typical biomass including agricultural remains and forest wood plants; 2) yields of secondary pollutants, including secondary inorganic and organic aerosols and gaseous products (like O₃) during photochemical aging of biomass burning plumes; 3) relationship between the formed secondary organic aerosols and the precursor VOCs; 4) changing size distribution and chemical compositions of submicron particles during photochemical aging of biomass burning plumes; and 5) influence of temperature and relative humidity on the photochemical aging of biomass burning plumes.