Impact of the wood combustion in an open fireplace on the air quality of a living room: Estimation of the respirable fraction
[EN] Presently, both in rural areas and in cities open fireplaces are still present and large quantities of wood are combusted every year. The present study aims to characterize aerosol size distribution, chemical composition and deposition in the human respiratory tract of particles emitted during...
| Autores: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión aceptada para publicación |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2018 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad de León |
| Repositorio: | BULERIA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de León |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:buleria.unileon.es:10612/26108 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969718303875 https://hdl.handle.net/10612/26108 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Física Química Aerosol size distribution Alveolar fraction Indoor air quality Open fireplace Wood combustion 3308.04 Ingeniería de la Contaminación 2210 Química Física |
| Sumario: | [EN] Presently, both in rural areas and in cities open fireplaces are still present and large quantities of wood are combusted every year. The present study aims to characterize aerosol size distribution, chemical composition and deposition in the human respiratory tract of particles emitted during the combustion of logs of oak in an open fireplace installed in the living room of a typical village house. CO2 and CO levels and aerosol size distribution have been continuously monitored and a PM10 sampler with two types of filters for chemical and microscopic analysis was also installed. The increment, between the operating periods and the indoor background, in the organic carbon and PM10 concentration due to the use of the fireplace is 15.7 ± 0.6 (mean ± standard deviation) and 58.5 ± 6.2 μg m−3, respectively. The two main polluting processes during the operation of the fireplace are the ignition with the subsequent refueling and the final cleaning of the residual ashes. In both phases mean values around 1800 particles cm−3 with CMD of 0.15 μm were measured. However, while PM10 levels of 130 ± 120 μg m−3 were estimated for the ignition stage, values of 200 ± 200 μg m−3 were obtained during the final cleaning step. Assessment conducted according to ISO standard 7708:1995, demonstrated that a person who stays in a living room when an open fireplace is lit will inhale, on average, 217 μg m−3 and 283 μg m−3 during the ignition and the refueling stages, respectively. Subsequent refueling proved to be much less polluting. The ashes removal can also be very polluting and dangerous to health if there are hidden small incandescent embers among the ashes (estimated PM10 of 132 μg m−3), reaching a CO2 level of 1940 ppm and a dangerous level of CO of 132 ppm |
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