Thermal characterization of biomass smoke particles

In this paper we present results on characterization of filter-collected redwood (Sequoia sempevirens)-needle and eucalyptus smoke particles by thermal, optical, and solvent extraction methods. Our results show that black carbon and a significant fraction of organic carbon in biomass smoke particles have similar volatility and combustion temperatures. Combustion temperatures of both black carbon and this organic fraction critically depend on the concentrations of common constituents of biomass smoke such as Na and K. These species are also known to catalyze the combustion and therefore lower the combustion temperatures by more than 100 °C. Consequently, thermal methods that rely on a specific temperature to separate organic from black carbon may either underestimate or overestimate the black and organic carbon concentrations, depending on the amounts of Na and K and on the composition and concentration of organic material present in a sample. These results suggest that more than one method must be used to accurately determine the organic and black carbon concentrations in biomass smoke particles.