posted on 2012-04-17, 00:00authored byGuofeng Shen, Shu Tao, Siye Wei, Yanyan Zhang, Rong Wang, Bin Wang, Wei Li, Huizhong Shen, Ye Huang, Yifeng Yang, Wei Wang, Xilong Wang, Staci
L. Massey Simonich
Retene (1-methyl-7-isopropylphenanthrene) is often used
as a marker
for softwood combustion and for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)
source apportionment. The emission factors of retene (EFRETs) from 11 crop residues, 27 firewood fuels, and 5 coals were measured
using traditional rural Chinese stoves. Retene was measured in combustion
emissions from all of the residential fuels tested and EFRETs varied significantly among the fuels due to the differences in
fuel properties and combustion conditions. EFRETs for pine
(0.34 ± 0.08 mg/kg) and larch (0.29 ± 0.22 mg/kg) were significantly
higher than those of other wood types, including fir and cypress (0.081
± 0.058 mg/kg). However, EFRETs for crop residues
varied from 0.048 ± 0.008 to 0.37 ± 0.14 mg/kg and were
not significantly lower than those for softwood (0.074 ± 0.026
to 0.34 ± 0.08 mg/kg). The EFRETs for coal were very
high and ranged from 2.2 ± 1.5 (anthracite briquette) to 187
± 113 mg/kg (raw bituminous chunk). EFRET was positively
correlated with EFs of coemitted particulate matter (EFPM) and phenanthrene (EFPHE) for crop residue and coal,
but not for wood. In addition, the ratios of EFPHE/EFRET and EFPM/EFRET for coals were much
lower than those for crop residues and wood. These data suggest that
retene is not a unique PAH marker for softwood combustion and that
coal combustion, in particular, should be taken into account when
retene is used for PAH source apportionment.