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Table 1 Characteristics of the burn pit smoke

From: Chemistry, lung toxicity and mutagenicity of burn pit smoke-related particulate matter

Variable

Plywood

Cardboard

Plastic

Mixture

Mixture/diesel

Smolder

Flame

Smolder

Flame

Smolder

Flame

Smolder

Flame

Smolder

Flame

MCEa

0.68

0.94

0.72

0.98

0.78

0.93

0.78

0.97

0.74

0.97

CO (g/kg)b

250.6

74.5

223.6

25.5

202.1

101.9

191.5

33.9

195.0

36.2

CO2 (g/kg)b

818.2

1674.1

898.7

1547.8

1166.3

2315.7

1022.6

1891.9

860.2

1873.8

PM (g/kg)b

148.3

2.6

81.6

0.4

242.3

34.9

149.4

1.3

186.1

2.2

CH4 (g/kg)b

16.4

5.6

9.6

0.8

5.3

7.5

4.8

0.7

6.7

1.7

VOCs (g/kg)b

48.0

27.0

26.0

4.0

544

136.0

127.0

17.0

164.0

29.0

NOx (g/kg)c

1.5

3.8

0.4

2.9

0.2

2.4

0.4

3.9

0.3

2.9

OC (% of PM mass)

45.5

45.5

41.3

36.1

64.3

68.8

55.5

48.4

58.4

60.0

EC (% of PM mas)

0.4

0.4

0.4

1.6

0.1

5.6

0.2

5.6

0.1

2.3

EOM (% of PM mass)

64

59

61

38

71

39

70

49

71

65

PM Size (µm)d

1.5 [1.5]

0.3 [1.1]

1.0 [1.2]

0.3 [1.1]

1.3 [1.4]

2.8 [2.0]

1.5 [1.4]

0.3 [1.2]

1.6 [1.3]

2.2 [2.0]

  1. aModified combustion efficiency (MCE) = ΔCO2/(ΔCO2 + ΔCO)
  2. bEmission factor (EF) t (g/kg) = (fuel carbon fraction x mass of carbon emitted as t x molecular weight t × 1000) / (molecular weight carbon x total mass of carbon)
  3. cEmission factor (EF) NOx (g/kg) = (mass of NOx / total mass of carbon emitted) x (mass of carbon in the fuel / total mass of fuel)
  4. dMass median aerodynamic diameter (MMAD) of PM; values in brackets represent the geometric standard deviation