Sources of fine organic aerosol. 5. Natural gas home appliances
Abstract
Fine particle emissions from the combined exhaust of a vented natural gas-fired residential space heater plus a water heater have been examined using GC/MS techniques. Organic compounds such as n-alkanes, n-alkanoic acids, PAH, oxy-PAH, aza arenes, and thia arenes have been identified in the exhaust emissions. Total fine particle emission rates are fairly low, with 45.8 ng/kJ (±17.4); thus residential natural gas combustion does not add much to the total fine particulate organic carbon (OC) mass emissions to the urban atmosphere (about 0.1 % for the Los Angeles area). At least 22.5 % of the particle mass emitted consists of PAH, oxy-PAH, aza arenes, and thia arenes, and many of these compounds are known or suspected carcinogens or mutagens. If tests of additional units should show comparable emission rates, then residential and small commercial natural gas combustion in the Los Angeles area in 1982 could have contributed amounts of PAH and oxy-PAH to the urban atmosphere that are comparable to that emitted from diesel vehicles and that are about half as much as that released from catalyst-equipped automobiles. Therefore, in spite of its low mass emission rate, natural gas combustion aerosol may be of interest because of its high PAH content.
Additional Information
© 1993 American Chemical Society. Received for review December 28, 1992. Revised manuscript received June 28, 1993. Accepted June 29, 1993. We thank Ed Ruth for his assistance with the acquisition of the mass spectrometry data and the staff of the Caltech Housing Office for providing a house in which to test the natural gas home appliances. This research was supported by the California Air Resources Board under Agreement A932-127. Portions of the work benefited from research supported by the US. Environmental Protection Agency under Agreement R-813277-01-0 and by the South Coast Air Quality Management District. Partial funding also was provided by the US. Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC02-76CH00016. The statements and conclusions in the report are those of the contractor and not necessarily those of the California Air Resources Board. The mention of commercial products, their source, or their use in connection with material reported herein is not to be construed as actual or implied endorsement of such products. This manuscript has not been subject to the EPA's peer and policy review and, hence, does not necessarily reflect the views of the EPA.Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 63244
- DOI
- 10.1021/es00049a012
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20151224-113634713
- A932-127
- California Air Resources Board (CARB)
- R-813277-01-0
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD)
- DE-AC02-76CH00016
- Department of Energy (DOE)
- Created
-
2016-01-04Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Environmental Quality Laboratory