Online single particle analysis of chemical composition and mixing state of crop straw burning particles： from laboratory study to field measurement

Fresh straw burning （SB） particles were generated in the laboratory by the combustion of rice straw and corn straw. The chemical composition and mixing state of the fresh SB particles were investigated by an Aerosol Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer （ATOFMS）. Based on the mass spectral patterns, the SB particles were clustered into four major types： Salt, Organic Carbon （OC）, Elemental Carbon （EC）, and internally mixed particles of EC and OC （EC-OC）. In addition, particles containing ash, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, heavy metals or nicotine were also observed. Physical and chemical changes of the SB particles immediately after the emission were analyzed with highly time-resolved data. During the aging processes, the average particle size increased steadily. Freshly emitted organic compounds were gradu- ally oxidized to more oxygenated compounds in the OC- containing particles. Meanwhile, an important displace- ment reaction （2KCI＋ SO24- KzSO4 ＋ 2C1-） was observed. The marker ions for SB particles were optimized and applied to identify the SB particles in the ambient atmosphere. The fluctuation of the number fraction of ambient SB particles sorted by ATOFMS agrees well with that of water soluble K＋ measured by an online ion chromatography, demonstrating that the optimized marker ions could be good tracers for SB particles in field measurements.

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

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^-1mg/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.