Effective Density and Morphology of Particles Emitted from Small-Scale Combustion of Various Wood Fuels

Abstract

The effective density of fine particles emitted from small-scale wood combustion of various fuels were determined with a system consisting of an aerosol particle mass analyzer and a scanning mobility particle sizer (APM-SMPS). A novel sampling chamber was combined to the system to enable measurements of highly fluctuating combustion processes. In addition, mass-mobility exponents (relates mass and mobility size) were determined from the density data to describe the shape of the particles. Particle size, type of fuel, combustion phase, and combustion conditions were found to have an effect on the effective density and the particle shape. For example, steady combustion phase produced agglomerates with effective density of roughly 1 g cm^–3 for small particles, decreasing to 0.25 g cm^–3 for 400 nm particles. The effective density was higher for particles emitted from glowing embers phase (ca. 1–2 g cm^–3), and a clear size dependency was not observed as the particles were nearly spherical in shape. This study shows that a single value cannot be used for the effective density of particles emitted from wood combustion