Chemical characterization of particle emissions from controlled burns of biomass fuels using a high resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer

Abstract. A total of forty-nine burns were conducted at the Missoula Fire Sciences Lab consisting of nine fuel types; i.e., chamise scrub oak, ceanothus, maritime chaparral, coastal sage scrub, California sage brush, Manzanita, oak savanna, oak woodland and masticated mesquite. This paper focuses on the chemical characterization of fine particle emissions collected for flaming, mixed and smoldering phases using a HR ToF-AMS. The evolution of OM/OC, H/C, O/C and N/C from fire ignition to extinction was measured to capture the transient and integrated chemical composition of the non-refractory portion of bulk particles. Real time elemental ratios and empirical formulas derived with respect to modified combustion efficiency (MCE) are reported. For each fuel, the hydrogen fragment ions dominate the unit mass resolution (UMR) mass spectra with no specific fragment ions attributable to an individual ecological combination. An interference ion in the UMR m/z 73, a fragment normally attributed to levoglucosan, is noted. Therefore, the results imply that C₂H₄O₂⁺ (m/z 60.021) plus C₃H₅O₂⁺ (m/z 73.029) are more sufficient to estimate the contribution of levoglucosan. The results did not show significant variations of levoglucosan content in the organic particle with the overall average contribution fraction ranging from 0.74% for coastal sage to 1.93% for chamise.