Nanostructure and reactivity of soot particles from open burning of household solid waste

The main purpose of this work was to quantify and characterize chemically and morphologically the emission of soot particles from the open burning of several common solid waste including paperboard, wood, peel, chemical fiber, polyethylene (PE) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The experiment was conducted in a laboratory-scale open-burning combustor with a dilution sampling system to obtain soot particles. The thermogravimetric profiles (TGA) showed an increasing order of oxidation reactivity: PE > PVC > fiber > paper ≈ peel > wood. High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images revealed more detailed information about the morphology and the particle size of soot aggregates. Subsequent quantification of nanostructure by fringe analysis showed that plastics generated soot particles with the looser carbon layers with higher tortuosity compared to the three kind of biomass. Raman spectroscopy further confirms the observed differences. In addition, wood soot exhibited the highest content of C-OH group (17.5%) among the six samples (X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy, XPS), whereas PE and PVC soot exhibited the highest absorption peaks of aliphatic C-H groups (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, FTIR). Comparative analysis revealed that the interlayer distance was more important on the evaluation of reactivity than soot morphologies. The present work concluded that the physiochemical characteristics of soot particles releasing during open burning are strongly depending on waste composition and provided new data for the understanding of soot emissions from open burning.