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EMISSIONS OF ORGANIC AIR TOXICS FROM OPEN BURNING
Citation:
Lemieux*, P M. EMISSIONS OF ORGANIC AIR TOXICS FROM OPEN BURNING. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-02/076 (NTIS PB2004-106605), 2002.
Impact/Purpose:
To shall information
Description:
A detailed literature search was performed to collect and collate available data reporting emissions of toxic organic substances into the air from open burning sources. Availability of data varied according to the source and the class of air toxics of interest. Volatile organic compound (VOC) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) data were available for many of the sources. Data on semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) that are not PAHs were available for several sources. Carbonyl and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofuran (PCDD/F) data were available for only a few sources. There were several sources for which no emissions data were available at all. Several observations were made including: 1) Biomass open burning sources typically emitted less VOCs than open burning sources with anthropogenic fuels on a mass emitted per mass burned basis, particularly those where polymers were concerned; 2) Biomass open burning sources typically emitted less SVOCs and PAHs than anthropogenic sources on a mass emitted per mass burned basis. Burning pools of crude oil and diesel fuel produced significant amounts of PAHs relative to other types of open burning. PAH emissions were highest when combustion of polymers was taking place; and 3) Based on very limited data, biomass open burning sources typically produced higher levels of carbonyls than anthropogenic sources on a mass emitted per mass burned basis, probably due to oxygenated structures resulting from thermal decomposition of cellulose. It must be noted that local burn conditions could significantly change these relative levels. Based on very limited data, PCDD/F emissions varied greatly from source to source and exhibited significant variations within source categories. This high degree of variation is likely due to a combination of factors, including fuel composition, fuel heating value, bulk density, oxygen transport, and combustion conditions. This highlights the importance of having acceptable test data for PCDD/F emissions from open burning so that contributions of sources to the overall PCDD/F emissions inventory can be better quantified.
URLs/Downloads:
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EMISSIONS OF ORGANIC AIR TOXICS FROM OPEN BURNING