Fine particulate emissions from combustion of woods common in Austria

Wood smoke is increasingly being seen as an important component of airborne particulate matter (PM). As the new short time standard for PM10 – particles in ambient air, of 50 μgm, set by the European Union (EU-Directive 1999/30/EG) is frequently violated in most urban regions in Europe, we have to find effective measures to reduce these concentration levels. This requires detailed knowledge of the magnitudes of individual source contributions (Puxbaum et al., 2004). Therefore the AQUELLA – project was started in Austria, using a chemical mass balance (CMB) – receptor model as source apportionment technique (Watson, 1984). This calls for chemical profiles of the source materials. Additionally, a macro tracer model has been developed within the AQUELLA Project, which uses single numerical factors for each characteristic compound, in each of the source materials being considered. Ideally, these are compounds that are known to be emitted by only one source. Levoglucosan has been recommended as a single tracer for the PM10 source "wood combustion" (Simoneit et al., 1999). This study focuses on domestic wood combustion, which is thought to be a major source of particulate emissions in Europe to the north of the Alps. The aim was to characterise the wood smoke emitted in Austria, to obtain a chemical profile of the fine particles (PM10), and if possible, factors for individual macro-trace markers. Large (30 cm) pieces of beech, oak, spruce, larch and softwood briquettes were burned in a closed domestic stove, and samples of the particulate emissions were analysed for trace metals, ions, carbon species, anhydrosugars and other trace organics, plus cellulose and HULIS.