Abstract
ABSTRACT In some regions of the world, cooking with solid biomass fuels in open fires constitutes the largest source of elemental and organic carbon emissions. However, cooking-related carbonaceous aerosols are still poorly characterized. This paper presents an innovative characterization of elemental and organic carbon (EC and OC) emissions from cookstoves in West Africa. Four stove types (three-stone fire, rocket stove, basic ceramic stove, and gasifier) using two wood species (dimb and filao) were analyzed on a laboratory scale. The EC and OC emission factors based on fuel energy (EFs) when burning dimb were higher for all stoves, highlighting the need to account for the fuel type when reporting cookstove EFs. The highest EC EF was found for the rocket stove (0.18 ± 0.06 g MJ–1 and 0.06 ± 0.01 g MJ–1 for dimb and filao, respectively). The other tested stoves exhibited the same EC EF when burning dimb (0.09 ± 0.02 g MJ–1) and EC EFs ranging between 0.04 ± 0.01 and 0.05 ± 0.01 g MJ–1 when burning filao. The OC EF was highest, on average, for the gasifier (0.08 ± 0.01 g MJ–1), followed by those for the three-stone fire (0.18 ± 0.03 g MJ–1) and the basic ceramic stove (0.21 ± 0.08 g MJ–1). However, the results from testing the rocket stove and the three-stone fire under real cooking conditions using dimb wood indicate that the laboratory-scale tests overestimate the actual EC EFs. Also, the rocket stove did not show a reduction in wood use compared to the three-stone fire, suggesting that the carbonaceous aerosol emissions from the former produce more warming than those from the latter. Therefore, the total EC and OC stove emissions, in addition to the EFs, must be reported. As the impacts of carbonaceous aerosol highly depend on the location of emission, this study contributes valuable data to emission inventories and climate prediction models at national and regional levels.
Highlights
In Senegal, 83% percent of households, mainly in rural villages, depend on biomass fuels to cover their daily cooking energy needs (World Bank, 2013)
The EC and organic carbon (OC) emission factors based on fuel energy (EFs) when burning dimb were higher for all stoves, highlighting the need to account for the fuel type when reporting cookstove EFs
The highest average EC EF per Water Boiling Test (WBT) was found with the noflaye jegg for both fuels, while EC EFs were fairly uniform across the other two improved cookstoves and the three-stone fire
Summary
In Senegal, 83% percent of households, mainly in rural villages, depend on biomass fuels to cover their daily cooking energy needs (World Bank, 2013). Combustion of these fuels is usually performed with inefficient stoves, leading to high levels of indoor air pollution and causing the premature death of 6300 people every year, mainly women and children (WHO, 2009). The other major carbonaceous aerosol component, organic carbon (OC), has been linked to light scattering properties (Chung and Seinfeld, 2002), OC from biofuel combustion has been shown to be slightly absorbing due to the presence of brown carbon (Bond et al, 2007; Feng et al, 2013)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
