Emission Estimates of Particulate PAHs from Biomass Fuels Used in Delhi, India

The emission factors for particulate-phase polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were evaluated for various biomass fuels (fuelwood, dung cakes, and agricultural residue) that are being commonly used in Delhi as a source of energy. Emission factors of total particulate PAHs varied from 35.9 +/- 1.9 to 59.7 +/- 4.4 mg/kg. Higher levels of total PAHs and particulate matter (PM) were found from dung cakes as compared to fuelwood and agricultural residue. The emission factors for PM from dung cake, fuelwood, and agricultural residue are 25 +/- 8, 15 +/- 3.2, and 12.1 +/- 9.4 g/kg, respectively. The total PAH emissions showed an increase with high particulate matter emission rates and lower combustion efficiency. Fluoranthene, pyrene, benzo[a]anthracene, chrysene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, and benzo[a]pyrene constituted the major fraction of PAH emissions from all biomass fuels. The annual budget estimates (total emissions per year) for PAHs and PM from biomass fuels used in Delhi are 30.5 +/- 2.3 Mg (Megagrams) and 11.6 +/- 4.4 Gg (Gi-gagrams), respectively. An attempt has also been made to evaluate the preliminary budget estimates of PAHs and PM emitted from the use of biomass fuels as a source of energy in India by using the emission factors obtained in the present study