Non-methane organic gas emissions from biomass burning: identification, quantification, and emission factors from PTR-ToF during the FIREX 2016 laboratory experiment

Abigail R Koss,Matthew M Coggon,Carsten Warneke,Robert J Yokelson,Bin Yuan,Jordan Krechmer,Kyle J Zarzana,James M Roberts,Jose L Jimenez,Kanako Sekimoto,Steven S Brown,Jessica B Gilman,Vanessa Selimovic,Joost De Gouw,Brian M Lerner

doi:10.5194/acp-18-3299-2018

Abstract

Abstract. Volatile and intermediate-volatility non-methane organic gases (NMOGs) released from biomass burning were measured during laboratory-simulated wildfires by proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PTR-ToF). We identified NMOG contributors to more than 150 PTR ion masses using gas chromatography (GC) pre-separation with electron ionization, H3O+ chemical ionization, and NO+ chemical ionization, an extensive literature review, and time series correlation, providing higher certainty for ion identifications than has been previously available. Our interpretation of the PTR-ToF mass spectrum accounts for nearly 90 % of NMOG mass detected by PTR-ToF across all fuel types. The relative contributions of different NMOGs to individual exact ion masses are mostly similar across many fires and fuel types. The PTR-ToF measurements are compared to corresponding measurements from open-path Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (OP-FTIR), broadband cavity-enhanced spectroscopy (ACES), and iodide ion chemical ionization mass spectrometry (I− CIMS) where possible. The majority of comparisons have slopes near 1 and values of the linear correlation coefficient, R2, of > 0.8, including compounds that are not frequently reported by PTR-MS such as ammonia, hydrogen cyanide (HCN), nitrous acid (HONO), and propene. The exceptions include methylglyoxal and compounds that are known to be difficult to measure with one or more of the deployed instruments. The fire-integrated emission ratios to CO and emission factors of NMOGs from 18 fuel types are provided. Finally, we provide an overview of the chemical characteristics of detected species. Non-aromatic oxygenated compounds are the most abundant. Furans and aromatics, while less abundant, comprise a large portion of the OH reactivity. The OH reactivity, its major contributors, and the volatility distribution of emissions can change considerably over the course of a fire.

Highlights

Biomass burning, including wildfires, agricultural burning, and domestic fuel use, is a large source of non-methane organic gases (NMOGs) to the atmosphere (Crutzen and Andreae, 1990; Akagi et al, 2011)
An additional 12 ion masses were identified as fragments of one or more NMOGs whose main product ion was already included in the list of 156 ions
Four ions were identified as being a common product of a large number of structurally dissimilar NMOGs

Summary

Introduction

Biomass burning, including wildfires, agricultural burning, and domestic fuel use, is a large source of non-methane organic gases (NMOGs) to the atmosphere (Crutzen and Andreae, 1990; Akagi et al, 2011). A substantial portion of gas-phase carbon may be missing from many field measurements (Warneke et al, 2011; Yokelson et al, 2013; Hatch et al, 2017) and the gas-phase precursors of SOA are not sufficiently understood (Jathar et al, 2014; Alvarado et al, 2015; Hatch et al, 2017). For these reasons, it is important to develop and understand analytical techniques that quantify a large number of biomass burning NMOGs

Methods

Results

Conclusion