ESRIG-EES colloquium: Anupam Shaikat, MSc EES student

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Title: Characterizing Aerosol Emissions from Biomass Burning.

By: Muhammad Anupam Shaikat, MSc EES student.

Summary:
Biomass burning results in atmospheric emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosols. The isotopic characterization of aerosols produced from combustion of vegetation may allow a better understanding of the source contribution from biomass fuels. In this research aerosol samples are collected from a series of laboratory experiments, where C3 and C4 plants (corn and willow wood), or C3-C4 plant mixtures are burned, and then measured and analyzed. The laboratory results are used to interpret the results of pilot studies of smoke samples in African savannah fires, where a mixture of C4 (mainly grasses) and C3 vegetation (bushes trees and leaves) is burned.

Results from the laboratory studies indicate that organic carbon (OC) from combustion of willow or corn shows δ13C values comparable to the burned plant material. For combustion of willow, the δ13C values in OC tend to be slightly higher than in the wood fuel, depending on combustion conditions. For combustion of corn, δ13C values of OC tend to be slightly lower than in the fuel. For mixtures of willow and corn the relationship between δ13C values in OC and the fuel mixture is slightly non-linear: For a 50-50% willow and corn mixture the δ13C value in OC is around -19‰, closer to the value of corn than willow. Results of OC collected from the field studies show δ13C values in the range of -22‰ to -25‰ which indicates more contribution from C3 biomass fuels to the combustion than from C4 biomass fuels.