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Measuring Emission Factors from Open Fires and Detonations
Citation:
Aurell, J., Bill Mitchell, D. Greenwell, A. Holder, D. Tabor, F. Kiros, AND B. Gullett. Measuring Emission Factors from Open Fires and Detonations. AWMA Air Quality Measurement Methods and Technology, Durham, North Carolina, April 02 - 04, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
This paper addresses the issue of hard-to-sample open fires and detonation sources for determination of emissions. The paper describes the methods that have been developed and demonstrated and over 20 field campaigns. These newly developed methods will have continued and expanded application for measuring open area, distributed emission sources. These methods are of interest to regulatory entities at the federal, state, and installation levels.
Description:
Measurement of open fires and detonations to determine pollutant emission factors poses significant challenges for instrumentation survival, personnel safety, equipment challenges, sample collection, and data quality. Open fire sources, such as wildland fires, often result in lofted plumes with rapidly fluctuating concentrations, high particulate matter concentrations, and significant thermal hazards to equipment and personnel. Demilitarization operations, such as open burning and open detonation, are used to treat obsolete and hazardous munitions that are otherwise unsafe to handle. These sources are characterized by extreme heat, high flames, short plume times, and shrapnel hazards. Two sampling systems have been developed and tested in over 20 field applications that make use of sensors, small pumps, and sample collectors to characterize a full range of compounds. These systems have been deployed both in aerial (tethered balloons and unmanned aerial systems, UASs) and ground (mobile and stationary) sampling campaigns. Both systems make use of the carbon balance method to determine emission factors. This method co-measures the pollutant of interest with the major carbon emissions (typically carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide) and, with knowledge of the fuel’s carbon content, allows for calculation of pollutant emission factors. Typical pollutants measured include particulate matter (PM), carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including carbonyls, nitrogen oxide species, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), nitroaromatics, hydrogen chloride (HCl), polychlorinated dioxins/furans (PCDD/PCDF), and PM elements and carbon properties. Both systems communicate with the ground operator via a telemetry system that allows for remote monitoring of battery capacity, pump volume, CO2 concentration, and filter pressure drop, to provide a means of monitoring system performance. Together these systems allow for safe and effective sampling of pollutant sources that heretofore lacked emission factors due to the inherent hazard and complexity of sampling their emissions.