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Updated: Feb 10, 2026
Millifluidics for Chemical Synthesis and Time-resolved Mechanistic Studies
Published on: November 27, 2013
High Time- and Size-Resolved Measurements of PM and Chemical Composition from Coal Combustion: Implications for the
Yong Han1, Yingjun Chen1,2, Saud Ahmad1
1Key Laboratory of Cities' Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change (CMA), State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering , Tongji University , Shanghai 200092 , China.
Abstract:
Inefficient coal combustion is a significant source of elemental carbon (EC) air pollution in China, but there is a limited understanding of EC's formation processes. In this study, high time-resolved particle number size distributions (PNSDs) and size-resolved chemical compositions were obtained from the combustion of four bituminous coals burned in a quartz tube furnace at 500 and 800 °C. Based on the distinct characteristics of PNSD, the flaming stage was divided into the first-flaming stage (with a PNSD peak at 0.3-0.4 μm) and the second-flaming stage (with a PNSD peak at 0.1-0.15 μm). For the size-segregated EC and OC measurements, more soot-EC was observed in particles larger than 0.3 μm, whereas the smaller ones possessed more char-EC. The results indicated that gas-phase and direct-conversion EC generation mechanisms dominate different burning stages. The analysis of 16 parent PAHs showed more high-molecular-weight PAHs in the second-flaming stage particles, which supports the idea of different formation processes for char-EC and soot-EC. For all four coals, the PNSD and chemical compositions shared a similar trend, confirming that the different formation processes of EC in different flaming stages were common. This study provides novel information concerning EC formation.
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