Evaluation of a constant volume sampling setup for residential biomass fired appliances—influence of dilution conditions on particulate and PAH emissions

Increased concerns about particulate matter (PM) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) emissions from residential biomass combustion and their potential health effects, motivates detailed emission measurements under controlled conditions. Traditional sampling in raw flue gases can suffer from drawbacks mainly related to transient flows and the condensable nature of organic compounds. Whole flow dilution with constant volume sampling (CVS) is an alternative method but different sampling conditions may, however, influence the emission characteristics. The objective was to design a CVS system for emission measurements in residential biomass fired appliances and determine the influence of dilution sampling conditions on the characteristics and distributions of PM and PAH. Softwood pellets were combusted in a pellet stove with variations in; dilution ratio (3–7x), sampling temperature (45–75 °C), dilution tunnel residence time (2–4 s) and fuel load (2.3 and 4.8 kW) according to a statistical experimental design. The sampling conditions did not influence either the emission concentrations of PM, CO and NO or the particle size distribution. Variations in residence time had no significant effect on any studied emission parameter. However, increased concentrations of organic gaseous carbon (OGC) and PAH were observed with increased dilution ratio. The distribution between particulate and semivolatile phase was influenced for 12 of the 37 analyzed PAH compounds, mainly by increased fractions of semivolatile material at higher sampling temperature. No influence of sampling temperature was observed for the concentrations of PAHtot or the dominating PAH compounds, i.e. phenanthrene, fluoranthene and pyrene. The results together with practical considerations also suggest sampling at 50±5 °C and 3–4 times dilution as robust and applicable conditions in the presently designed setup.