Particulate, black carbon and organic emissions from small-scale residential wood combustion appliances in Switzerland

An inventory of annual and monthly emissions from small-scale residential wood combustion in Switzerland was prepared. Emissions from seven single room appliance classes (<15 kW) were included in the inventory. These systems were classified by technology (current or modern) and include batch fired and automatic systems. The inventory was developed using a novel method incorporating heating degree-days and appliance usage estimates. Emission factors used in the inventory are representative of normal combustion (NC) conditions for both current and modern appliances and poor combustion (PC) conditions for current appliances. Emissions factors for hard- and softwood combustion were incorporated where available. Particulate matter (PM), particle bound black carbon (BC), particle bound organic matter (POM), inorganic material, total organic carbon (TOC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions were included in the inventory. PM was characterised by size as total particulate emissions (TPE), and as particulate matter having diameter less than 10, 2.5 and 1 μm (PM10, PM2.5 and PM1, respectively). emissions were determined for each emissions species (base year 2009). The hardwood softwood mix was assumed to be 57:43 and the mix of current and modern appliances was assumed to be 70:30. For the current emission scenario, annual TPE was calculated to be ∼4.35 kt y−1, of which 39% was BC and 42% POM. TOC emissions were calculated to be ∼3.82 kt y−1 for the same period and scenario. Analysis of the size dependency of PM was also made. PM2.5 dominated all combustion scenarios, contributing 76–85% of TPE.