Grantee Research Project Results

Characterization Of Emissions From Small, Variable Solid Fuel Combustion Sources For Determining Global Emissions And Climate Impact

EPA Grant Number: R835036
Title: Characterization Of Emissions From Small, Variable Solid Fuel Combustion Sources For Determining Global Emissions And Climate Impact
Investigators: Edwards, Rufus D. , Bond, Tami C. , Smith, Kirk R.
Institution: University of California - Irvine
EPA Project Officer: Chung, Serena
Project Period: September 1, 2011 through August 31, 2014 (Extended to August 31, 2016)
Project Amount: $900,000
RFA: Black Carbon's Role In Global To Local Scale Climate And Air Quality (2010) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Climate Change , Air

Objective:

We propose to characterize emissions from two highly mitigatable source categories thought to be responsible for more than 25% of global black carbon (BC) emissions, but currently poorly characterized: residential and small industrial so lid-fuel combustion. Inventories of household emissions are currently based on tests during simulated cooking that have been shown to be unrepresentative of emissions during normal use. Small-scale industrial sources in rural areas of developing countries are practically uncharacterized, even though they are known to be significantly polluting. We will conduct in-field measurements of a full suite of climate-relevant emission properties for particulate maller (total particulate mass PM2.5. BC, OM, SOx-sulfates) and other short-lived climate forcers (CO, CH4, TNMHC). Sources targeted will be will be in China-Yunnan. China-Tibet, Nepal, Northern India, which comprise a transect across one of the most sensitive regions in the world for Be impacts: the Himalayas. Objectives:

Obtain climate-relevant data from in-use operation of household stoves and rural small scale industries using a combination of real-time measurements, intensive chemical characterization, and statistical analys of real-time data.
Use the same methods to obtain information on the potential of advanced combustion biomass stoves to mitigate emissions of greenhouse gases and particulate species.
Quantify the connection between light absorption, which is relevant to radiative forcing, and measurements of "demental" carbon, the analytical quantity most frequently measured at emission and in ambient air.

Approach:

Combine measurement approaches used to for in field assessment of greenhouse gas emissions with a portable emissions measurement system for in field measurement of particulate emissions into a practical and robust standardized method. Deploy this system in 5 field sites of Climate relevance to measure 15 rural small-scale industries and 19 household stove combinations using fuels that conslitute over 85% of residential energy use in each location, including coal, wood, crop residues, dung, kerosene, and LPG.

Expected Results:

Outputs will be: 1) revisd emission factors from a standardized method to measure climate-relevant data from in-use operation of household stoves and rural small scale industries that are linked to national surveys that contain questions on fuel use. 2) A better understanding of the relationship between commonly collected elemental carbon measurements with absorbance. Outcomes will be the potential to better link emissions to atmospheric concentrations that affect Himalayan glaciers in future global models and a better understanding of the potential to mitigate emissions through improved technologies.

Publications and Presentations:

Publications have been submitted on this project: View all 21 publications for this project

Journal Articles:

Journal Articles have been submitted on this project: View all 6 journal articles for this project

Progress and Final Reports:

The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.