Wood smoke impact on PM and odour levels in Austria

Biomass combustion is one of the recommended technologies for reducing fossil fuel consumption. Biomass combustion is performed, however, in a wide variety of fire places, oven and boiler types. The emission of particulate matter from such combustion units spans over two orders of magnitude, depending on the type of the unit and the type of fuel burnt. Since notably during the cold season PM10 levels in European cities exceed frequently the short term standard for PM10 of the EU, an attainment of the PM10 standard requires an understanding of main sources and their contributions to PM10. The contribution of biomass smoke to PM 2,5 levels at European background sites in the cold season has been recently assessed, with contributions of biomass- OM to ambient OM in the range of around 20-50% (Puxbaum et al., JGR in press). Thus, biomass smoke is one of the major primary PM sources in the cold season in Europe. Reduction of PM10 levels in rural wintry areas of Europe is thus crucially dependent on reduction plans implementing technological changes in the combustion technology of biomass fuels. In this study we assess the emission factors and emission profiles of wood combustion tracers of different wood types indigenous for Austria and its surrounding countries in a reference oven contributing to the high organic emissions. We furthermore assess the emission of odour. Odour emissions from wood combustion are reported, but not well characterized. Emission profiles comprise different types of chemical components such as organic and elemental carbon , anions, cations, selected trace metals, anhydrosugars (levoglucosan, mannosan and galactosan), celllulose, humic like substances and particular non-polar and polar components including PAH, retene, resin acids and syringols. From the emission profiles of the investigated wood species country averaged emission profiles will be constructed, which are required to derive the biomass smoke contribution to PM10 levels at ambient rural and urban sites in Austria and in surrounding countries. From this a wood smoke profile will be derived which will be used to assess the impact of wood smoke to selected PM10 and PM2.5 sampling as well as the fraction of conifer and deciduous wood for three cities and their surrounding rural areas in Eastern Austria. Finally, using the energy-normalised PM mass emission data from different types of wood combustion appliances PM reduction scenarios will be assessed with the goal to reveal ways and means of a sustainable use of wood or wood-based fuels.

Biomass combustion is one of the recommended technologies for reducing fossil fuel consumption. Biomass combustion is performed, however, in a wide variety of fire places, oven and boiler types. The emission of particulate matter from such combustion units spans over two orders of magnitude, depending on the type of the unit and the type of fuel burnt. Since notably during the cold season PM10 levels in European cities exceed frequently the short term standard for PM10 of the EU, an attainment of the PM10 standard requires an understanding of main sources and their contributions to PM10. The contribution of biomass smoke to PM 2,5 levels at European background sites in the cold season has been recently assessed, with contributions of biomass- OM to ambient OM in the range of around 20-50% (Puxbaum et al., JGR in press). Thus, biomass smoke is one of the major primary PM sources in the cold season in Europe. Reduction of PM10 levels in rural wintry areas of Europe is thus crucially dependent on reduction plans implementing technological changes in the combustion technology of biomass fuels. In this study we assess the emission factors and emission profiles of wood combustion tracers of different wood types indigenous for Austria and its surrounding countries in a reference oven contributing to the high organic emissions. We furthermore assess the emission of odour. Odour emissions from wood combustion are reported, but not well characterized. Emission profiles comprise different types of chemical components such as organic and elemental carbon , anions, cations, selected trace metals, anhydrosugars (levoglucosan, mannosan and galactosan), celllulose, humic like substances and particular non-polar and polar components including PAH, retene, resin acids and syringols. From the emission profiles of the investigated wood species country averaged emission profiles will be constructed, which are required to derive the biomass smoke contribution to PM10 levels at ambient rural and urban sites in Austria and in surrounding countries. From this a wood smoke profile will be derived which will be used to assess the impact of wood smoke to selected PM10 and PM2.5 sampling as well as the fraction of conifer and deciduous wood for three cities and their surrounding rural areas in Eastern Austria. Finally, using the energy-normalised PM mass emission data from different types of wood combustion appliances PM reduction scenarios will be assessed with the goal to reveal ways and means of a sustainable use of wood or wood-based fuels.