Characterization of emissions from portable household combustion devices: particle size distributions, emission rates and factors, and potential exposures

A series of source tests were conducted to characterize emissions of partic ulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4 ), and total hydrocarbon (THC) from five types of portable combustion devic es. Tested combustion devices included a kerosene lamp, an oil lamp, a kero sene space heater, a portable gas range, and four unscented candles. All te sts were conducted either in a well-mixed chamber or a well-mixed room, whi ch enables us to determine emission rates and emission factors using a sing le-compartment mass balance model. Particle mass concentrations and number concentrations were measured using a nephelometric particle monitor and an eight-channel optical particle counter, respectively. Real-time CO concentr ations were measured with an electrochemical sensor CO monitor. CO2, CH4, a nd THC were measured using a GC-FID technique. The results indicate that al l particles emitted during steady burning in each of the tested devices wer e smaller than 1.0 mum in diameter with the vast majority in the range betw een 0.1 and 0.3 mum. The PM mass emission rates and emission factors for th e tested devices ranged from 5.6 +/- 0.1 to 142.3 +/- 40.8 mg h(-1) and fro m 0.35 +/- 0.06 to 9.04 +/- 4.0 mg g(-1), respectively. The CO emission rat es and emission factors ranged from 4.7 +/- 3.0 to 226.7 +/- 100 mg h(-1) a nd from 0.25 +/- 0.12 to 1.56 +/- 0.7 mg g(-1), respectively. The CO2 emiss ion rates and emission factors ranged from 5500 +/- 700 to 210,000 +/- 90,0 00 mg h(-1) and from 387 +/- 45 to 1689 +/- 640 mg g(-1), respectively. The contributions of CH, and THC to emission inventories are expected to be in significant due both to the small emission factors and to the relatively sm all quantity of fuel consumed by these portable devices. An exposure scenar io analysis indicates that every-day use of the kerosene lamp in a village house can generate fine PM exposures easily exceeding the US promulgated NA AQS for PM2.5 .(C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.