Laboratory for Earth Surface Process, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China.
Environ Sci Technol. 2024 Sep 10;58(36):16016-16027. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.4c03967. Epub 2024 Aug 5.
Residential solid fuel combustion significantly impacts air quality and human health. Pelletized biomass fuels are promoted as a cleaner alternative, particularly for those who cannot afford the high costs of gas/electricity, but their emission characteristics and potential effects remain poorly understood. The present laboratory-based study evaluated pollution emissions from pelletized biomass burning, including CH (methane), NMHC (nonmethane hydrocarbon compounds), CO, SO, NO, PM (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 μm), OC (organic carbon), EC (element carbon), PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), EPFRs (environmentally persistent free radicals), and OP (oxidative potential) of PM, and compared with those from raw biomass burning. For most targets, except for SO and NO, the mass-based emission factors for pelletized biomass were 62-96% lower than those for raw biomass. SO and NO levels were negatively correlated with other air pollutants ( < 0.05). Based on real-world daily consumption data, this study estimated that households using pelletized biomass could achieve significant reductions (51-95%) in emissions of CH, NMHC, CO, PM, OC, EC, PAHs, and EPFRs compared to those using raw biomass, while the differences in emissions of NO and SO were statistically insignificant. The reduction rate of benzo(a)pyrene-equivalent emissions was only 16%, much lower than the reduction in the total PAH mass (78%). This is primarily attributed to the more PAHs with high toxic potentials, such as dibenz(a,h)anthracene, in the pelletized biomass emissions. Consequently, impacts on human health associated with PAHs might be overestimated if only the mass of total PAHs was counted. The OP of particles from the pellet burning was also significantly lower than that from raw biomass by 96%. The results suggested that pelletized biomass could be a transitional substitution option that can significantly improve air quality and mitigate human exposure.
生物质颗粒燃料的燃烧对空气质量和人类健康有显著影响。颗粒状生物质燃料作为一种更清洁的替代燃料被推广，特别是对于那些无法承担燃气/电力高昂费用的人来说，但它们的排放特征和潜在影响仍知之甚少。本实验室研究评估了颗粒状生物质燃烧的污染排放，包括 CH（甲烷）、NMHC（非甲烷碳氢化合物）、CO、SO、NO、PM（空气动力学直径≤2.5μm 的颗粒物）、OC（有机碳）、EC（元素碳）、PAHs（多环芳烃）、EPFRs（环境持久性自由基）和 PM 的 OP（氧化潜能），并与原始生物质燃烧进行了比较。对于大多数目标，除了 SO 和 NO，颗粒状生物质的质量排放因子比原始生物质低 62-96%。SO 和 NO 水平与其他空气污染物呈负相关（<0.05）。基于实际的日常消费数据，本研究估计，与使用原始生物质相比，使用颗粒状生物质的家庭可以显著减少 CH、NMHC、CO、PM、OC、EC、PAHs 和 EPFRs 的排放（51-95%），而 NO 和 SO 的排放差异在统计学上无显著意义。苯并(a)芘等效排放量的减少率仅为 16%，远低于总多环芳烃质量的减少率（78%）。这主要是由于颗粒状生物质排放中具有更高毒性潜力的多环芳烃，如二苯并(a,h)蒽的含量较高。因此，如果只计算总多环芳烃的质量，与多环芳烃相关的人类健康影响可能会被高估。颗粒状生物质燃烧产生的颗粒的 OP 也比原始生物质低 96%。结果表明，颗粒状生物质可以作为一种过渡性替代选择，显著改善空气质量并减轻人类暴露。
