Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6), Climate Action (SDG 13)
Emission factors of greenhouse gases and key air pollutants from biomass burning Amanda Hanashiro Moraes 1 , Shakiba Talebian 1 , Roshan Kumar Singh 1,2 , Kerry Chen 3 , Jason Olfert 3 , Tarun Gupta 2 , Ran Zhao 1* 1 Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta. 2 Department of Civil Engineering, APTL, Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering (CESE), Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. 3 Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta; E-mail: rz@ualberta.ca Biomass burning (BB) is a major source of air pollutants and greenhouse gases to Earth’s atmosphere, affecting both regional air quality and global climate. BB is a universal source of air pollution across the globe but takes a variety of formats. In Canada, wildfires are gaining frequency and severity due to the ongoing global warming. In many developing countries, domestic biofuel use is a major source of air pollutants. BB emissions are highly complex, depending heavily on the type of fuels and combustion conditions. Currently, the emission and chemistry of BB is not fully understood, hindering our predictive understanding of its climate and health impacts. In this poster presentation, I will highlight collective efforts of my group and collaborators, aiming to quantify the emission factors – the amount of pollutants emitted per unit mass of fuel – of important but understudied biomass fuels. In the first half, we focused on surface fuels relevant to Canadian boreal forests- peat, mulch, and grass – and conducted a measurement campaign in a fire lab. In the second half, we collaborated with researchers in India to study emissions arising from biofuels specific to rural India, particularly those commonly used in households with low social-economic status. Key words: Biomass burning, wildfire, emission factors, climate change, air pollution
P71
© The Author(s), 2025
Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog