Characteristics of carbonaceous particles from residential coal combustion and agricultural biomass burning in China

Emission factors (EFs) for mass and carbonaceous particles from the residential coal combustion and agricultural biomass burning are measured in the laboratory simulations. Average PM2.5, organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) EFs from the combustion of a mixture of bituminous and anthracite coals were 6.1 ± 7.1 g kg−1, 1.9 ± 2.3 g kg−1 and 2.8 ± 3.8 g kg−1, respectively, and from agricultural biomass burning PM2.5, OC and EC EFs were 14.4 ± 3.8 g kg−1, 5.9 ± 2.1 g kg−1 and 0.43 ± 0.12 g kg−1, respectively. EFs for the three biomass fuels (wheat straw, maize straw and rice straw) were similar while those from the coals (bituminous coal and anthracite coal) varied with volatile matter content in the fuel. The average OC/EC ratio for agricultural biomass (13.7 ± 2.7) was higher than that for bituminous coal (1.4 ± 1.3) or anthracite coal (6.3 ± 1.3). Carbon fraction profiles showed that EC1-OP was the major product of bituminous coal combustion while OC2 and OC3 were the main emissions from anthracite coal combustion, and OC2, OC3 and EC1-OP were the main products of agricultural biomass burning. PM2.5, OC and EC emissions estimates from China in 2012 from coal combustion were 757 Gg, 237 Gg and 343 Gg, respectively, while those from the burning of agricultural biomass were 1238 Gg, 524 Gg and 37 Gg with large differences in per capita emissions among China's provinces.